Why Man United may have to play their FA Cup Fourth Round tie at a neutral venue

Eastleigh could face United in the fourth round

United booked their place in round four after they beat Wigan Athletic 2-0 on Monday night.

Although it wasn't their best performance, Erik ten Hag's side were rewarded with a tie against the winner of Newport County and Eastleigh.

The two will face each other and if National League side Eastleigh are to make it through, an extra factor would have to be taken into consideration.

Due to its 5,192 capacity, the ground wouldn't be deemed suitable whereas if Newport got through, their 7,850 Rodney Parade capacity would be fine to use.

A statement from Eastleigh on Wednesday said: "The logistical issues for a club of our size in playing a club the size of Manchester United means we do need to explore and communicate certain provisional plans in the hope of reducing the understandable high volume of calls we are dealing with.

"We are unable to confirm potential ticket allocations or prices however we can confirm that the fixture would be played at our home stadium unless our Safety Advisory Group feels the club cannot stage the match safely, which we feel is extremely unlikely.

"We are exploring the possibility of extending our temporary seating to increase capacity to enable more fans to attend should we be successful."

FA Cup rules state that the Safety Advisory Group assessment must be completed within three days of the draw or the date at which "the Home Club’s participation in the relevant fixture is confirmed".

Eastleigh's replay takes place on January 16 meaning that they would have eight days ahead of the fourth round game to determine if the ground is safe to host the game.

Any final decision would be made by the Football Association.

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