FA Cup Fifth Round LIVE: Build-up, team news, score and live text updates as Arsenal visit Mansfield

Record breaking day for Gunners with Dowman and Salmon

Mansfield v Arsenal (12:15 GMT)

Alex Howell

BBC Sport Arsenal reporter at One Call Stadium

With Max Dowman and Marli Salmon starting, Arsenal are the first Premier League side to start a competitive match with two players aged 16 or under in any competition.

It's a big chance for the youngsters who are both highly rated and have been in the first team picture since pre-season.

Could Arsenal win the Quadruple?

Mansfield v Arsenal (12:15 GMT)

Arsenal are fighting on all four fronts this season so today will be as much about squad rotation and game management as anything else.

Top of the Premier League, still in the FA Cup, preparing for the EFL Cup final at the end of the month and in Champions League last-16 action this week, the Gunners are in a strong position to bring more than one piece of silverware back to the Emirates this season.

It is the first time that two clubs are still in the hunt for the Quadruple at this stage of the season - Manchester City are the other and will face Arsenal in the EFL Cup final.

City and Manchester United remain the only two English teams to have won the Treble - but how close have teams come to winning the Quadruple?

Have a read here.

'We'll give it everything and let's see'

Mansfield v Arsenal (12:15 GMT)

Mansfield Town

Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough speaking to TNT Sports:

"Supporters been congregating since 8-9am this morning - big day for them.

"An incredibly difficult opportunity. Not just to get to the fifth round but also to get the Premier League leaders here. I juts hope we can make it uncomfortable for them.

"Everyone is excited but manager and staff not so much!

"We will try to play our normal game. I don't think we can do it any other way. When we can we will try to get the ball down - they are slightly technically better than us! But you never know, you need a break. It's what you get away with as well - with Burnley they missed two or three chances and that went our way.

"Make it uncomfortable but have a go - no regrets. We have a one off opportunity to give it everything and let's see."

On coming through against Accrington Stanley in early round: "More difficult in lots of ways than the other two games. Absolute monsoon conditions and we snuck through. You have to get through games like that to get the big ties. That's what you have to do to get a chance at the big boys.

"We want to be in with a chance. If we didn't think we could cause an upset then there's no point. We have bigger games coming this week in the context of the league so we can just enjoy this.

"We've already created memories with the fans here today."

Set piece threat

Mansfield v Arsenal (12:15 GMT)

Of course, the big Arsenal threat today as we all know is from set pieces.

Mansfield boss Nigel Clough knows that is where his side are in danger and said the aim is to "make it as uncomfortable as we can" for the Gunners.

In the league, they have scored 16 goals from corners - three more than anyone else - and equalling the most in a single Premier League season.

"Players know the gulf," Clough said. "We're a bottom half of the League One table side playing against top of the Premier League.

"Without breaking a sweat they could easily demolish us."

'Shotgun wedding' for Mansfield

Mansfield v Arsenal (12:15 GMT)

Just 15 years ago, Mansfield were a cash-strapped non-league side who did not own their ground or training facility.

But owner John Radford changed that and they have since moved up two divisions and quadrupled their average home attendance.

Chief executive Carolyn Radford has described this match against Arsenal as a "shotgun wedding" with licks of paint and fixing taps prioritised in the weeks after they beat Burnley in the last round.

Mansfield's best run in the FA Cup for 51 years has included two upsets already, with the win at Burnley coming after they bundled Championship side Sheffield United out, as well as a penalty shootout win against Accrington Stanley.

But against a side placed 59 places above them in the football pyramid, a tough test awaits today.

'Days like this mean everything'

Mansfield v Arsenal (12:15 GMT)

Mansfield have impressed in this FA Cup run but are struggling in League One.

They sit 16th, five points off the drop zone.

But this is their first appearance in the FA Cup fifth round for more than half a century and the arrival of the Premier League leaders in town is one of the biggest occasions in the club's history.

"This is what football is, days like this which mean everything," chief executive Carolyn Radford told BBC East Midlands Today.

"You have all those unglamorous matches, rainy Tuesday games away with a four- or five-hour drive back home, just to get up for work the next day.

"For supporters and for us it makes everything worthwhile, and shows that it doesn't matter if expectations say you shouldn't do something."

Dowman and Salmon set to star

Mansfield v Arsenal (12:15 GMT)

Alex Howell

BBC Sport Arsenal reporter at One Call Stadium

Arsenal 16-year-old's Max Dowman and Marli Salmon are already familiar to the Gunners fans.

The pair were included on the club's pre-season tour of Singapore and Hong Kong at just 15 years of age and have been highly rated for a long time.

Salmon made his debut off the bench against Club Brugge in the Champions League in December and today is his first start for the Gunners.

Dowman made his Premier League debut at 15 and is the youngest player to have started a game for Arsenal after featuring from the start in Arsenal's win over Brighton in the Carabao Cup.

Dowman has signed a pre-contract agreement with Arsenal which has seen him commit his future to the club.

The attacking midfielder is a special talent and is making his first start after recovering from an ankle injury he picked up in December.

Dowman also picks up another record today. His start against Mansfield sees him become Arsenal's youngest ever FA Cup player, at 16 years and 66 days old.

'Tough proposition for Mansfield'

Mansfield v Arsenal (12:15 GMT)

This will be Mansfield against Arsenal's second team, which is still very strong.

The Stags beat Premier League Burnley at Turf Moor thanks to Louis Reed's stunning free-kick but, even at home and with the Gunners making changes, this is a much tougher proposition.

Mansfield have not won any of their past nine games in League One - they have drawn six of them, and lost the other three - and are only five points above the relegation zone.

They can forget about all that while they focus on this tie, and their fans can just enjoy the day too, but I can only see an Arsenal win here, whatever team they put out.

Sutton's prediction: 0-2

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