Updated at 14.50
ASTON VILLA’S WRETCHED season continued on Saturday as they were held to a 1-1 draw by fourth-tier minnows Wycombe Wanderers in the third round of the FA Cup.
Eleven points adrift of safety at the foot of the Premier League table, Villa took a 22nd-minute lead at Adams Park when visiting skipper Micah Richards steered home a square pass from Carles Gil.
But Wycombe, 54 places below Villa in the English league system, equalised five minutes into the second half via a Joe Jacobsen penalty after Ashley Westwood had been penalised for an aerial challenge on Matt Bloomfield.
The outcome is a money-spinning replay for Wycombe, sixth in League Two, which is an encumbrance that Villa manager Remi Garde could do without.
Holders and Premier League leaders Arsenal began their quest for a third successive FA Cup — a feat last achieved by Blackburn Rovers between 1884 and 1886 — when they host Sunderland later on Saturday.
Manchester City visit Norwich City in one of the round’s four other all-top-flight ties, while Southampton host Crystal Palace and Newcastle United go to Watford. Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City meet on Sunday.
Manchester United face lower-league opposition in the form of third-tier cup specialists Sheffield United, who reached the League Cup semi-finals last season and the FA Cup last four the year before.
Liverpool were taken to a replay by fourth-tier Exeter City on Friday, Brad Smith’s 73rd-minute equaliser sparing Jurgen Klopp’s youthful side from an ignominious exit.
