One of the most exciting days in the football calendar, the FA Cup 3rd Round draw took place yesterday. Throwing up its usual unpredictable mix of fixtures but failing to deliver a Premier League fairytale story for a non-league club.

We can already guarantee that there will be two sides from England’s second tier in the fourth round draw as Coventry v Crystal Palace and Preston v Nottingham Forest constitute the only all Championship 3rd round ties.

Overall the draw is a tough one for the Championship with more than 10 sides facing Premiership opposition, whilst increasing the chances of a relative upset it also means that a strong Championship presence in the fourth round and beyond is limited.

What do you think your teams chances of progression are in the FA Cup this season?

Despite this pessimism here is my selectino of the most interesting ties in the third round for the Championship:

Arsenal v Leeds

Until recent times a battle of two powerhouses of the modern game, the decline of the Yorkshire club will do little to diminish what will be seen as one of the ties of the round.

Last season Manchester United were knocked out of the competition by Leeds and with Arsene Wenger unlikely to name his strongest side this could be another opportunity for a famous ‘cupset’.

Leicester City v Manchester City

This is a game between two clubs with rich foreign investors, albeit on a different scale.

The cup has a habit of bringing together former players and managers and I am sure that Sven Goran Errikson will be desperate to overcome his former employers. With a home tie the chances of an upset are increased however the depth of the Manchester City squad; even a weakened side is likely to be considered strong favourites.

Reading v West Bromwich Albion

The game for me that is most likely to produce a ‘cupset’ despite mediocre league form, a home tie against Premiership opposition will present a big opportunity to put in a performance and victory that will raise morale and placate the fans.

West Bromwich Albion have started the season well but form is rarely a factor in the FA Cup and this represents an intriguing third round tie.

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This week saw a flurry of loan activity in the Championship, as the loan deadline day came and went. 

Deadline day resulted in a number of players from Premiership clubs make their way to the Championship, to gain some first team experience or maintain their match fitness at a competitive level. 

Some of the more interesting deals to take place this week include:

Aaron Ramsey – Arsenal to Nottingham Forest

Duration: One Month 

Arguably the highlight of deadline day Aaron Ramsey is on his way to the City Ground for one month.  

 Originally signed from Cardiff the Welsh international was a regular in the Arsenal first team last season, before a controversial tackle from Ryan Shawcross in February caused a double leg fracture and a nine month lay off. 

On the road back from injury a loan spell at Nottingham Forest is an opportunity for him to feel his way back into the game. 

Chris Kirkland – Wigan – Leicester

Duration: One Month

Starting the season as the first choice goalkeeper at Wigan, the England international has been usurped by Ali Al-Habsi and therefore a move away to maintain match sharpness seems sensible.

His move to Leicester could be down to the ‘Sven’ factor at the Walkers Stadium as the former England manager who would have scouted Kirkland intensively during his time as manager and giving the keeper his first England squad call.

John Guidetti  - Manchester City – Burnley

Duration: One Month

Although not as well known as Chris Kirkland or Aaron Ramsey, the eighteen year old striker is highly thought of at Eastlands, he is reported to have been on the radar of a host of Championship clubs as the loan deadline approached. 

Having started in Sweden, he made his first team debut in the Carling Cup earlier this season and will see this move as an important stepping stone in a fledgling career in what constitutes his first real taste of regular first team action.

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St Mary's Stadium will host League One football next season

Sheffield Wednesday, QPR, Manchester City, Wimbledon (aka MK Dons), Leeds, Oldham, Nottingham Forest, Swindon, Leicester, Barnsley, Bradford. Soon to be joined by another two and probably three in Charlton, Southampton and Norwich. All these clubs have tasted the sweet nectar of life in the Premier League only to later sup at the workaday bitterness of League One. In Bradford’s case, even League Two.

If Norwich go down, as seems likely, that’s 14 teams who have played against the best and slipped to the third tier of English football in the last 17 years. In a game full of startling statistics, that seems pretty mind-boggling. It might hearten fans of Saints and Addicks that a decent portion of those teams have at least made it back to the Championship. Indeed, this time last year Leicester were belly-up and now they are like a horny young salmon, leaping back upstream to play with the bigger boys and girls once more.

In a sense, this shows the outstanding strength in depth of the English leagues. Unlikely teams including Bradford, Swindon, Hull, Stoke, Wigan and Reading all made huge strides in the last decade and a half to reach the top of the mountain. Yet it does not take much to find yourself back at base camp in double-quick time.

It can be put down to poor money management. It can be blamed on carelessness and poor decision-making. But the shocking thing this year is that two clubs who have often been held up as excellent examples of how a medium-sized club should be managed are either already down or simply waiting for the trap door to open.

When Sheffield Wednesday, Man City, QPR, Leicester and Leeds fell into League One, the structure at the clubs was poor and all of them had dealt inadequately with the money the EPL gave them. But Charlton and Norwich do not seem to fall into this category. Charlton have cleverly developed a fanbase from all over Kent and steadily improved a stadium that was derelict 20 years ago. Norwich had more than their fair share of problems in the boardroom in the 90s, but they have a city dedicated to the team, a real sense of community and Delia Smith providing heart and soul as well.

For those two clubs, the short term might be unpalatable, but the feeling is that the long term might be rosy. They are sensible clubs. If they cut costs, appoint the right managers and keep expectations sensible, they could return a stronger unit, like Leicester appear to be doing.

Southampton, though, could be a different story. Not so long ago they had a new stadium, Gordon Strachan had taken them to the Cup Final and they were the latest in a long line of clubs hoping to break into the top six of the EPL. Now the money is gone. The stadium is not being filled. The stars of their youth system have almost all been sold in an effort to balance the books. Rumours of a takeover notwithstanding, it seems likely that Andrew Surman and Adam Lallana will now have to be sold as well.

Around this time of year a lot of pundits make long faces and say it’s a shame for this team or that team to go down. They are saying it about Newcastle now, but is it a shame when clubs the size of Southampton are relegated to League One? Would we prefer to see the smaller clubs, like Doncaster or Blackpool, get relegated, to keep the status quo?

I don’t think so. I think it’s a healthy situation that big clubs occasionally taste life in the bottom half of the Football League. It’s good for football that so-called small teams like Peterborough can play at Championship level.

With dreams of winning the Premier League unrealistic for fans of all clubs except perhaps five – six at a push – the dream has perhaps been downshifted to glory in the Championship and a chance to merely get in the ring with the big boys.

The difference this season compared to others is that three clubs who have all played at the top level within the last four years are (probably) heading down. Not only should that be a lesson to clubs currently happy in the Premier League, it should be a warning. There are at least half-a-dozen Premier League clubs who could be facing the same crisis as Southampton in three or four years time.

After another action packed weekend the sides in the Championship look like they are sorting themselves into the areas we can expect to find them in for the remainder of the season. Reading and Birmingham looking like they are going to bounce straight back whilst Doncaster and Notts Forest look destine to be involved in a relegation battle for the next 8 months.

However there are those that prove the rule that the Championship is the most unpredictable league with Plymouth currently occupying fourth whilst Watford and Crystal Palace are currently struggling near the bottom. However I don’t expect that to be the case come the end of the season, although following the relegation of Leicester and the promotion of Hull you can never say never.

Everyone knows that the Championship is unpredictable but it seems unlikely that we will have a season like the last with Hull and Bristol contesting the play-off final and Stoke going up. This season looks like it is going to go by the book though with Birmingham and Reading, who have managed to keep hold of their best players and use their parachute payments to their benefit, certainly looking like two of the best sides in the league.

Even Derby are starting to take steps in the right direction and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if they were up there come the end of the season. It seems then that the £30m the Premier League give to relegated clubs is starting to effect the Championship whilst newly promoted clubs, with the exception of Swansea, are struggling to make the step up. It seems then that if the Football League wanted the Championship to be more like the Premier League then they are succeeding.

Whilst it may now be easier to bet on the Championship parachute payments are in danger of taking the unpredictability of the league away, one of the elements which makes this league so watch able.

As for the future well normally I would say who knows what it will hold but this season things look a little more predictable. The only thing that will change the way this season is going is the January transfer window. QPR have plenty to spend whilst others may stick their hands in their pockets if they believe there is a chance for promotion or to save themselves from relegation. At the minute though the odds for the Championship look like they aren’t going to change until we find ourselves at the play-off final again.

Here’s video footage of the relegation battle from the Championship including the demise of Leeds and Southend along with the already-relegated Luton Town (who were top of the table near the beginning of the season).