Simon Stone
BBC Sport at Old Trafford

FA Cup rules allow for a much larger contingent of visiting supporters, who are on both tiers of the East Stand tonight as well as the normal corner slot.

I have only been sat here five minutes and I have already heard two 'Sack the Board' chants.

This could be a difficult night for the Everton hierarchy.

Alan Stubbs
Former Everton defender on BBC Radio Merseyside

If you're going to feel sorry for yourself - and this is difficult to say - Everton are down. I fear the worst for the football club. I think we could go down this year.

Roy still putting in two-footed challenges 😳😳😳

ITV

Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane on ITV: " They have got a lot of bad players Everton, really bad players.

"I look at that group of players, some of them I'm not sure are even up to Premier League standard, never mind Everton."

Manchester United

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, speaking on ITV: "First is always the attitude, you need focus, energy and to bring that onto the pitch."

On Luke Shaw at centre-back: "He did really well as a centre-half. Also when he comes together with Rafa and Diogo in the back four, that combination with David de Gea as well. That's why we went with this."

On Everton and Frank Lampard: "It's never nice when managers become under pressure. But we look to ourselves.

"We have to play our game, I have to focus on my team, the players have to focus on their game together. It's about togetherness and creating a good performance for our fans. We're really looking forward to this cup game."

Manchester United

David de Gea jumps above Joe Spence this evening on Manchester United's all-time appearance list into 10th.

Denis Irwin (529), Tony Dunne (535) and Alex Stepney (539) are all well within range for the Spanish goalkeeper now.

Wayne Rooney is then next on the list with 559 appearances followed by Gary Neville (602) and Bill Foulkes (688).

Still some way to go to get near the trio at the top of that particular tree mind. Ryan Giggs has 963 appearances, followed by Sir Bobby Charlton on 758 and Paul Scholes on 718.

Image source, @ManUtd

Bill Rice
BBC Radio Manchester

The FA Cup isn't quite what it used to be in terms of prestige. It used to be the day, everyone wanted to win it but now it comes down the pecking order behind the Premier League and Champions League.

That said this Manchester United side need a trophy. Erik Ten Hag needs to show the side is progressing in the right direction. Sir Alex Ferguson won it as his first trophy in 1990 when he was facing the sack. The rest is history. It can be the start of something.

Manchester United

Image source, Getty Images

Erik ten Hag says it is too early to think about silverware even if his Manchester United team are where "they want to be" as they host Everton in the third round of the FA Cup tonight.

United have won nine of their last 10 matches in all competitions, raising hopes they could deliver a first trophy since 2017.

However, the Dutchman says that is not his immediate priority.

"My main focus is to improve the team," said Ten Hag. "We have many elements in our game we have to improve."

United's last two trophies came during Jose Mourinho's tenure as manager with the club lifting the EFL Cup and the Europa League during the 2016-17 campaign.

"We are where we want to be but still go from game to game, we play in many competitions, focus from game to game and don't think too far ahead," added the United manager.

"We push the players because good is not good enough, also in the organisation we have to push each other and when there are opportunities at the top you have to be ready for that."

Alan Stubbs
Former Everton defender on BBC Radio Merseyside

The cup games were always a little bit of a different aspect, you're away from the league and it is a chance to maybe build a bit of confidence with a cup run.

I've got to be honest, a cup run is the last thing on the mind of Everton fans right now but sometimes these are the competitions that can ignite a run of form.

It's going to be very difficult tonight and I think the most important thing for Everton tonight is to come through with no injuries because the squad is not blessed with depth.

Three games unbeaten against United as a player and eliminating them from the semi-final as Chelsea manager in 2019-20.

Can he keep that record going tonight?

Alan Stubbs
Former Everton defender on BBC Radio Merseyside

Frank Lampard has put out as strong a team as he can, Anthony Gordon has not been well. Come on players, stand up and be counted.

It's not about owing the manager a performance, first and foremost you owe yourself a performance and then you owe the fans a performance. The players can't look for excuses right now because there are no excuses there.

If you're not playing well, you're open to criticism. You don't feel sorry for yourself and think it's a personal slant on someone because they've not played well.

Not playing well is part of the game. Then it becomes part of your make up to play yourself our of it. Do the basics right, work hard and give it everything you've got.

Image source, Getty Images

Everton have won just one of their last 29 away games against Man Utd in all competitions, winning 1-0 in December 2013.

Costa Rican Bryan Oviedo scored the only goal that evening against a United side managed by David Moyes.

This is Everton's first away game against United in the FA Cup since a 1-0 quarter-final loss 40 years ago.

BBC Radio 5 Live

More from Everton Blue Room podcaster Peter Macfarlane on BBC Radio 5 Live: "People do talk about Farhad Moshiri selling up, but what needs to happen in the short term is that we need a new direction in terms of the boardroom. Moshiri hasn't been to Goodison since 2021, I don't know how much say he has in that boardroom. Bill Kenwright, it's nothing personal against him, but he's 77 years of age. At that age surely he should be retired. We need to have the best possible people running this football club.

"Any board and owners need to understand that a football club is the beating heart of community. When you take on the ownership you take on the responsibility, and the responsibility of Everton goes back to 1878. It means the absolute world to Evertonians.

"Our first priority has to be that we see stability on the pitch and a clear plan is put into place. That needs to be shown to the fans too. If you look at Newcastle, they have all the money in the world, but it is lazy to say it is all about money from them. Comparatively I don't think they've spent as much money as Moshiri did when he first took over. They've brought their own people in and have a clear vision.

"I don't know how Everton would financially recover if they were to get relegated. We've spent a lot of money on players and given them very generous contracts. I very much doubt that we've written anything into those contracts. I think it would cause us an issue financially. The fans will always be there, regardless of what league we're playing in."

Image source, .

We know someone will spring a surprise on FA Cup third-round weekend, but who will be the victims this time?

BBC Sport's football expert Chris Sutton has made his predictions for all 32 ties - including a 'derby' between two of his former clubs - and given his verdict on who will make it into round four.

For selected matches, including the BBC's three televised games, Gillingham v Leicester (12:30 GMT on BBC One on Saturday), Sheffield Wednesday v Newcastle (18:00, BBC One, Sat) and Manchester City v Chelsea (16:30 on BBC One on Sunday), Bad Education writer and podcast host Nathan Bryon has made his predictions too.

Read them in full here

Chris Mitchell: Huge credit to Erik Ten Hag & Frank Lampard for respecting the great FA Cup and picking very strong sides for Man Utd and Everton tonight. Great to see and here’s to a great third round tie.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Everton Blue Room podcaster Peter Macfarlane on BBC Radio 5 Live: "The priority has to be staying in the Premier League, but any good performance or win can breed confidence. It is imperative that we turn up tonight and put a performance on for the supporters.

"When we sit back and defend we can be quite organised, certainly when we've got five at the back. The issue we've got is when we're expected to go forward and attack, we are just so vulnerable on the counter-attack. Brighton identified that very early on and exploited a weak point down our right side.

"The main issue for us at the moment is that Farhad Moshiri has to come out and make some sort of statement. He needs to listen to the supporters. One of the main gripes among Evertonians, and it has been for a while, is the running of the club from the top to bottom.

"We've tried changing managers and throwing money at it, but at the end of the day while you've still got the same people making in charge making the same decisions, nothing is going to change. Towards the end of the Brighton game a lot of fans were chanting "sack the board" - I think that is a message a lot of Evertonians would agree with."

Erik ten Hag changes four of the side that beat Bournemouth 3-0 earlier this week, with three alterations in defence.

Tyrell Malacia, Raphael Varane and Diogo Dalot come in as Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Aaron Wan-Bissaka drop to the substitutes' bench. Donny van de Beek suffered a knee injury against the Cherries and he is replaced by Antony.

Man Utd XI: De Gea, Dalot, Shaw, Varane, Malacia, Eriksen, Casemiro, Fernandes, Rashford, Antony, Martial.

Subs: Heaton, Martinez, Lindelof, Maguire, Wan-Bissaka, Fred, McTominay, Elanga, Garnacho.

Frank Lampard makes four changes to the Everton side that lost 4-1 at home to Brighton on 3 January as Seamus Coleman, Ben Godfrey, Amadou Onana and Neal Maupay come in for Nathan Patterson, Tom Davies, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Dwight McNeil

Everton XI: Pickford, Coleman, Tarkowski, Coady, Godfrey, Mykolenko, Gueye, Onana, Iwobi, Gray, Maupay.

Subs: Begovic, Mina, Holgate, Davies, Doucoure, Gordon, McNeil, Calvert-Lewin, Simms.

Alistair Magowan
BBC Sport

Frank Lampard appeared quite sanguine as he discussed his position at Everton despite doubts about his future.

In his pre-match news conference for the FA Cup trip to Manchester United on Friday, he even said he was "enjoying" the role during a week where Everton slipped into the Premier League's bottom three after a crushing home defeat by Brighton.

The truth is that he has been here before. Last season Everton were in the bottom three way deeper into the campaign but managed to recover. Lampard still has the January transfer window to try to help a side that has one win in 10 Premier League games.

Everton's malaise is not just on Lampard's shoulders as many fans would highlight. They realise this is a club on the slide and Lampard also knows he can only fix so many of the issues. However, he will be well aware from his time at Chelsea that if poor results continue it could lead to his sacking. He stressed he would keep working hard to turn things around.

Perhaps he realises, like many fans, that sacking him might not be the silver bullet Everton are looking for. A high turnover of managers has got Everton into this position.

Instead he is just focussing on the short term, getting a result at Old Trafford and then taking on two huge games against Southampton and West Ham in the Premier League. Decisions about his time at Everton appear not to be his concern or worry.

Everton

Everton boss Frank Lampard says he is not "hunting around for any reassurances" with his side in 18th place in the Premier League table.

Lampard is under pressure after Everton were beaten 4-1 by Brighton on Tuesday, but he says he is focused on the club's long-term future.

"I've never and would never seek reassurances," said Lampard.

"It's my job to focus on the job in hand, day-to-day, game-to-game. I'm not hunting around for any reassurances.

"I'm a big man working for a great club and I'll keep doing it."

Read the full piece

FA Cup

Manchester United faced Everton in the 1995 FA Cup final at Wembley.

It was Alex Ferguson up against Joe Royle.

Look away now if you don't want to know the result, though that big bold headline gives it away a little 🤣