Now then, time to skip over to Burnley...

Simon Stone
BBC Sport

Ed Woodward's time in charge of Manchester United has not been a successful one.

He replaced David Gill in 2013 when the club won the last of its 20 league titles but since then, United have suffered an alarming fall in status.

While they won the FA Cup in 2016, plus the Europa League and EFL Cup in 2017, they have failed to mount a realistic challenge on either the Premier League title or the Champions League.

In November, Woodward sacked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as manager, the fourth time he has been forced to dismiss his own appointment ahead of schedule.

Richard Arnold steps up having been in charge of day-to-day operations at Old Trafford and is widely credited with building bridges with United's major fans groups. In his previous role as commercial director, he was viewed as one of the biggest influences behind the club's huge commercial growth.

For now Woodward will remain on the football club board until the end of the season, which will involve attending a couple of meetings but he will not stay on in a consultancy role as has previously been suggested.

Manchester United

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In case you did not see this earlier...

Richard Arnold will replace Ed Woodward as Manchester United's most senior executive on 1 February.

Woodward stated his intention to leave his role as executive vice-chairman last spring amid the fallout from the doomed European Super League project.

Arnold, 50, joined United in August 2007 and has been the club's managing director since 2013.

He will become chief executive in a change of title from Woodward.

"I would like to thank Ed for his tireless work on behalf of Manchester United during his nine years as executive vice-chairman and 16 years with the club," said United co-chairman Joel Glazer.

"We are now looking forward to Richard and his leadership team opening a new phase in the club's evolution, with ambitious plans for investment in Old Trafford, the strengthening of our engagement with fans, and continued drive towards our most important objective - winning on the pitch."

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Christmas Day off. Michail Antonio you lucky lad. Less so Callum Wilson, who is nursing an injury that he picked up in Newcastle's draw against Manchester United.

"It is a strange one," Wilson said.

"I don't know how long I will be out for myself yet. I have an appointment on Friday with the specialist to go through everything and see what the scan says and we can go from there and distinguish a timeframe.

"It's in my calf area. You do the same movement a thousand times a week in training and for some reason I have pushed off in the wrong position and it has got a tear in it. It is a little bit frustrating.

"You sustain an injury and nobody plays to get injured. I dedicate everything to football, live right and everything. As a player who has had setbacks through my career it has stood me in good stead.

"There's no reason for the injury, it happens but there is no point feeling sorry for yourself. Straight away it was like, all I can do is rebuild and go again."

Image source, BBC Sounds

Premier League forwards Callum Wilson and Michail Antonio start the new year off by discussing resolutions and an upcoming milestone birthday.

The January transfer window is open, and comes with different objectives: for Newcastle, fighting for survival, and West Ham, looking to push into the top four.

The lads discuss how transfer rumours can disrupt dressing rooms, and how it feels when your club is linked to players who play in your position.

Have a good listen to this.

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Gabon captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and two other members of the team's delegation tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival in Cameroon on Thursday, threatening their participation at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Arsenal forward Aubemayang and Nice midfielder Mario Lemina returned positive results when tested on arrival at Yaounde’s airport, along with assistant coach Anicet Yala.

Manchester City

Those will long enough memories will remember Swindon v Manchester City as a Premier League fixture.

These days of course the Wiltshire club are nestled up near the top of League Two and face quite a challenge against the reigning English champions on Friday evening.

Manchester City assistant manager Rodolfo Borrell says he is well aware of the strange things that can happen in the FA Cup mind.

"There is a lot of history where lesser teams or smaller teams beat big opponent because a competition that creates a great atmosphere and lots of enthusiasm and everyone is trying to make their town or village or city proud," Borrell said.

"The FA Cup is very special. This is one of the titles we are most proud of achieving in the last 6 years. It’s important to do well and get into the next stage. It will be very close, like any other tie in this competition.

"There is obviously a difference in quality of players but this is the kind of game where everything that gets very close. For us it is more important to do well and get into the next stage. I think it is going to be a very close game and we have to be ready for that."

Manchester City

More from Manchester City assistant manager Rodolfo Borrell: "All the clubs are suffering, some some weeks ago, some now and some are going to be later.

"We are trying to cope as best as we can. We are going back to the protocols we had at the start of the pandemic to try and minimise the risk.

"Every day there is a bit of anxiety because we have to test, everybody is expecting every day, are we going to be three less, four less and there is some uncertainty about this. Nothing different, we are coping with it. We are taking it day by day."

Manchester City

On the Covid-19 situation at Manchester City Rodolfo Borrell adds: "We have had an outbreak and, at the moment, we have seven players unavailable plus 14 staff.

"There is quite a big outbreak now. We are getting it day by day, we don't know when it is going to end.

"To fill in the whole squad and travel with five, six subs, we had to bring in second team players. We travel with the team, a mixture of both, and we will obviously go for the win and try to get the best out of the game.

"We actually have prepared mentally for the game. We have to prepare for the game to happen and we keep going this way. If it is not possible tomorrow because there is more news, it is out of our reach. We have prepared and we are ready for it."

Manchester City

To kick things off Rodolfo Borrell is asked about Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola's health and thankfully all appears to be well.

"He’s fine," Borrell said.

"He has the virus. Fortunately he doesn't have many symptoms. But we are permanently in touch, like we would be here but on zoom or via a call. Through technology instead of live.

"It’s possibly been one of the easiest line-ups we have to decide - we will play the players we have available, we don't have much more. We want to play as much as we can, we respect all competitions. We can fill the team."

Right time to hear from Manchester City assistant boss Rodolfo Borrell, who will take charge of the team at Swindon on Friday...

Manchester City

With that news around Pep Guardiola, it brings the number of those isolating for Covid-related reasons at Manchester City to 21.

Of that number, 14 are backroom staff with seven being first-team players.

Bet the current Swindon boss Ben Garner is a bit gutted to not have the chance to have a proper chat with Pep Guardiola.

Manchester City

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Pep Guardiola will miss Manchester City's FA Cup third-round tie at Swindon on Friday after testing positive for coronavirus.

The City manager returned a positive test on Tuesday, as did assistant manager Juanma Lillo, and the pair are now self-isolating.

The club have also reported "a number of other positive cases within the City first-team bubble". Rodolfo Borrell, another of Guardiola's assistants, will take charge of the team at Swindon.

BBC One

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Fans will be able to watch five of the 32 ties lives across the BBC's platforms.

On Saturday, BBC One is showing the tie between Championship club Hull City and Premier League Everton (17:30) as well as Manchester United against Aston Villa on Monday.

Non-League Chesterfield's first game with Chelsea since 1950 is on Saturday at 17:30 on the BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website, app and Red Button.

Yeovil's tie with Bournemouth on Saturday (17:45) is on the BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app.

BBC One Wales is showing Swansea's match with Southampton on Saturday (17:30). That tie can also be watched on the BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app.

Image source, Getty Images

Third- and fourth-round replays have been scrapped this season to help with the fixture backlog caused by Covid postponements.

Ties will be played to a finish on the day, with 30 minutes of extra time and penalties to decide the winners if required. Clubs can name nine substitutes and use five.

If a club has a Covid outbreak and concerns over a sufficient numbers of players then they are expected to inform the FA as soon as possible.

The case would be referred to the Professional Game Board for consideration but the FA, unlike the Premier League and EFL, does not insist on selecting players from a set registered list.

Instead, the criterion is 14 available players and they can effectively be anyone from the club who is listed as a player, whether that be from the under-23s or under-19s.

The FA expects all clubs to field their strongest possible side.

As for testing, it will be lateral flow tests and they must be taken within 24 hours of the match and no later than five hours before kick-off.

Neil Johnston
BBC Sport

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At Kidderminster Harriers, FA Cup fever has been bubbling since the lowest-ranked club left in the competition were paired with Reading from four leagues above.

A team from the sixth tier of English football at home to a struggling Championship club whose wage bill stands at £37.6m is an example of why the third round is the most romantic weekend in the football calendar.

As well as excitement, there is uncertainty in the air at the non-league club.

"This tie means everything to the club and it would be catastrophic if it was called off," says Harriers boss Russell Penn.

So how does a non-league club, where every single penny counts, prepare for its biggest FA Cup tie for years against the backdrop of a pandemic and multiple postponements?

More here

The FA Cup third round, one of the most eagerly awaited weekends of the football calendar, gets under way on Friday when League Two Swindon Town host six-time winners Manchester City.

There are 32 ties over the course of four days including non-league Kidderminster Harriers, the lowest-ranked team left in the competition, at home to Championship Reading, while holders Leicester City start their defence by hosting Watford in one of three all-Premier League ties.

Non-league Chesterfield are at European champions Chelsea - which is live on the BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website, app and the Red Button - and record 14-time winners Arsenal are at Championship club Nottingham Forest.

The BBC is showing five live games across its platforms, including 12-time winners Manchester United against Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Monday (19:55 GMT) on BBC One.

Image source, Getty Images

The magic of the FA Cup = the oldest cup competition in world football + stories of daring, sacrifice and minnows overcoming giants of the game.

Anyone else excited? Let us hope that there is as little Covid-related disruption as possible to all the third-round fixtures going ahead.

Right that is us done for now.

We are heading off for a brew but will be back a little later with news conferences from Brentford, Burnley, Manchester City and Brighton as we look forward to the FA Cup third-round fixtures.

Until then we will leave you with some of today's top stories:

• Burnley boss Sean Dyche to miss FA Cup tie with Covid
• Aston Villa among a number of clubs monitoring Barcelona's Philippe Coutinho
• Antonio Conte says there are a "lot of jobs to do" at Tottenham after defeat by Chelsea in the Carabao Cup
• Locadia joins Bochum from Brighton