FA Cup fifth-round draw live: Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea among clubs to discover opponents

The draw for the fifth round of the FA Cup takes place tonight ahead of Macclesfield’s tie against Brentford

Macclesfield fans invade pitch as club knock out Crystal Palace in huge FA Cup shock

The draw for the fifth round of the FA Cup takes place this evening, with some of the country’s biggest sides waiting to see who they will face at the next stage of the competition.

The fourth round started with big wins for Chelsea and Wrexham, and they were joined by Liverpool, Newcastle United and Manchester City on Saturday.

Sunday saw wins for Arsenal, Sunderland, Wolves, Fulham and Leeds, with just two more ties to play as in-form Brentford face cupset specialists Macclesfield this evening before the postponed match between Port Vale and Bristol City takes place on 3 March.

So, with several of the Premier League’s biggest sides in the draw alongside the likes of Wrexham and Mansfield Town, there promises to be plenty of intrigue in tonight’s draw ahead of the fifth round taking place on the weekend of 7 March.

Follow all the latest updates from the fifth round draw below:

FA Cup fifth round draw

• Draw for the fifth round of the FA Cup takes place | Live on TNT Sports 1 around 6.30pm
• Draw takes place ahead of Macclesfield facing Brentford in penultimate fourth round tie
• Teams including Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City wait to find out opponents

[16 February 2026 18:40 · Lawrence Ostlere]

FA Cup fifth-round draw

Mansfield Town v Arsenal

[16 February 2026 18:40 · Lawrence Ostlere]

FA Cup fifth-round draw

Leeds United v Norwich City

[16 February 2026 18:39 · Lawrence Ostlere]

FA Cup fifth-round draw

Newcastle United v Manchester City (!)

[16 February 2026 18:39 · Lawrence Ostlere]

FA Cup fifth-round draw

Port Vale or Bristol City v Sunderland

[16 February 2026 18:38 · Lawrence Ostlere]

FA Cup fifth-round draw

Fulham v Southampton

[16 February 2026 18:38 · Lawrence Ostlere]

FA Cup fifth-round draw

Here we go...

[16 February 2026 18:37 · Lawrence Ostlere]

FA Cup fifth-round draw

Karen Carney and Joe Cole are going to be doing the honours.

[16 February 2026 18:36 · Lawrence Ostlere]

FA Cup fifth-round draw

Right then, here’s the draw, live from Macclesfield. The Cup is in attendance, glistening next to Ally McCoist.

[16 February 2026 18:31 · Lawrence Ostlere]

FA Cup key dates

A reminder of the FA Cup’s remaining match dates:

Fifth round: Saturday 7 March 2026

Quarter-finals: Saturday 4 April 2026

Semi-finals: Saturday 25 April 2026

Final: Saturday 16 May 2026

[16 February 2026 18:23 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Kavanagh cut from Premier League programme over Cup mistakes

Chris Kavanagh has not been appointed to referee a Premier League game this weekend after a series of errors during the Aston Villa v Newcastle FA Cup tie last Saturday.

Kavanagh and his assistants Gary Beswick and Nick Greenhalgh were heavily criticised for their performance during the FA Cup fourth-round clash at Villa Park, where they were operating without VAR as was the case for all ties in the round.

They failed to spot Tammy Abraham was offside for Villa's opening goal, missed a shin-high tackle by Villa full-back Lucas Digne on Newcastle's Jacob Murphy which could have warranted a straight red card and then gave a free-kick for a handball by Digne even though he was clearly inside the penalty area at the time.

Beswick was named as an assistant for the Nottingham Forest v Liverpool match on Sunday, but Kavanagh and Greenhalgh do not feature.

Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn and Sandro Tonali of Newcastle United react after referee Chris Kavanagh and assistant referee Nick Greenhalgh failed to award a penalty (Getty)