Premier League leaders Arsenal resume their FA Cup campaign in the fifth round with a trip to League One minnows Mansfield Town on Saturday afternoon. The Gunners will make their first-ever trip to Field Mill, the oldest ground in the Football League, with the only previous game between these two clubs occuring at Highbury in the fourth round of the 1928-29 FA Cup — which Arsenal won 2-0.
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Mikel Arteta’s side earned no plaudits in their midweek victory over Brighton & Hove Albion, with opposition coach Fabian Hurzeler bemoaning Arsenal’s time-wasting tactics en-route a 1-0 win. However, it was a result that extended their PL lead to seven points after Manchester City dropped points at home to Nottingham Forest. Arsenal are now unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions, as they look to fight for trophies on all four fronts.
Mansfield, meanwhile, followed their giant-killing act in the FA Cup — where they stunned PL side Burnley — with a run of four games without a win in League One. Nigel Clough’s side have slipped to 16th in the table, and are only five points clear of the relegation zone. The cup provides welcome respite from the league, and they will hope for a famous result against Arsenal over the weekend.
Here’s everything you need to know about Saturday’s game.
How to watch:
The match will be shown on TNT Sports in the UK, ESPN in the U.S., SonyLIV in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow ESPN’s live updates.
Key Details:
Kick-off time: Saturday, March 7 at 12:15 p.m. GMT (7:15 a.m. ET; 5:45 p.m. IST and 10:15 p.m. AEST).
Venue: One Call Stadium, Mansfield
Referee: Thomas Bramall
VAR: Paul Tierney
Injury and Team News:
Mansfield Town:
Nigel Clough has a fully fit squad.
Arsenal:
Mikel Merino, M: OUT, foot, est. return late May
Ben White, D: DOUBT, knock
Martin Ødegaard, M: DOUBT, knee
William Saliba, D, DOUBT, knee
Talking Points:Can Arsenal win pretty?play
1:43
Fabian Hürzeler vs. Mikel Arteta: Are Arsenal ‘making their own rules’?
Fabian Hürzeler & Mikel Arteta engage in a verbal battle in their respective press conferences following Arsenal’s win over Brighton.
‘Only one team tried to play football’ — Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler minced no words in his criticism of Arsenal’s tactics in his side’s 0-1 loss at home to the Premier League leaders. They key phrases in that preceding sentence are ‘loss’ and ‘Premier League leaders.’ Say what you will about Arsenal, whatever they’re doing is working.
It’s also a bit disingenuous — Hurzeler and the Brighton crowd vocally made their displeasure known with Arsenal’s time-wasting, as the Gunners averaged 31.4 seconds between restarts in this game. For context, Brighton average 26.5 seconds between restarts this season, but averaged 38.7 seconds vs Man City (H), 33.7 seconds vs Chelsea (A) and 33.2 seconds vs Brentford (A) — all three games which they won.
To reduce Arsenal to a team that defends a lead that was scored via a set-piece ignores the club’s potential to turn it on when needed — such as against Tottenham Hotspur or in the UEFA Champions League. Mansfield boss Nigel Clough is well aware of what Arsenal’s strengths are, but acknowledged that Arteta’s side could ‘demolish’ them.
Pitch at Field Mill could affect Arsenal
The pitch at the Emirates, normally a perfect rectangle of green, has come for plenty of criticism following a winter and spring that weren’t ideal. Arsenal’s ground has some of the best support staff working on it with Premier League resources, which is decidedly not the case at the One Call stadium in Mansfield.
The FA Cup tends to be a great leveller, simply because top-tier teams have to deal with less-than-stellar facilities lower down the pyramid. Mansfield’s home ground might be old, but it is fairly muddy and it could certainly catch Arsenal out.
Arteta’s side will be quite cautious given an uneven pitch could cause injuries that Arsenal can ill-afford at this stage of the season. While Arsenal have shown they can mix it with a more ‘agricultural’ style of play Mansfield have it within them to make it an equal game if the ball doesn’t spend much time on the surface of the pitch.
Arsenal need fresh legs Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Perhaps one of the reasons for Arsenal’s dour style of play has been the sheer amount of minutes they’ve already played this season. Arteta’s side have had a week’s break only once in 2026, with games every three days given their continuing interest in all four competitions.
With games against Bayer Leverkusen and Everton to come, it is no secret that Mikel Arteta will rotate his side, with the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke, Christian Nørgaard, Cristhian Mosquera, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Kepa Arrizabalaga all set to feature.
Martin Ødegaard and William Saliba are unlikely to be risked even if they have shrugged off knocks, with teenaged centre-back Marli Salmon possibly being afforded a chance in that case. Whatever the case, any lineup that Arsenal put out ought to have enough quality to beat Mansfield, but if the hosts are able to make this a physical contest, they could level matters, since either Arsenal’s regulars may be too leggy or their backups could be rusty.
Clough aiming to create memories of a lifetime
Despite a run of nine games without a win in League One, Nigel Clough will not struggle to motivate his players for this tie. The Mansfield boss noted how fans still speak fondly of taking Liverpool all the way in a fourth round FA Cup tie in 2013, before Luis Suárez scored a contoversial winner late on.
“The players know that they won’t be in this position maybe ever again, Mansfield might not play Arsenal again. So without thinking about it, everyone raises their game a little bit,” Clough said. Louis Reed certainly raised his game in the previous round, scoring a stunning free-kick as Mansfield beat Burnley 2-1.
Louis Reed scored Mansfield’s winner against Burnley with a sensational free-kick. Paul Currie/AFP via Getty Images
However, the club have only scored five goals in their last nine games in the league, with Clough struggling with his attacking combinations. Another Reed special could be the need of the hour at Field Mill, if Mansfield are to have a chance.
What do the numbers say?
Arsenal are playing against Mansfield after a 97-year gap (1929-2026), the second-longest gap the Gunners have had against an opponent after Lincoln City (1915-2017)
This is only the fifth time Mansfield Town have made it to the fifth round of the FA Cup, having last done so 51 years ago in the 1974-75 season. The club progressed past the fifth round into the quarterfinals only once, in 1968-69 (57 years ago)
Arsenal have only reached the fifth round of the FA Cup twice under Mikel Arteta — the last time they did, they won the trophy in 2019-20.
The last team from the third tier or below to knock Arsenal out of the FA Cup were Wrexham in 1991-92.
Gabriel Jesus has never lost any of the 19 cup games he’s played against lower-tier teams, having scored 20 goals in those games.
Nigel Clough faces Arsenal as a manager for the first time, but he’s faced Arteta in the dugout before. The Spaniard was an assistant coach when Manchester City beat Clough’s Burton Albion by an aggregate scoreline of 10-0 in the League Cup semifinals.