‘A home game for Blackpool against Premier League opposition would usually be cause for great excitement’

League One club face Arsenal in the third round on Saturday but they are still the subject of a fan boycott which has divided families and friends

The magic of the FA Cup will not be readily observable when Blackpool take on Arsenal at Bloomfield Road on Saturday evening. On paper the tie looks tasty enough, with Unai Emery’s first experience of FA Cup football coming at the home of a League One side who fully extended Arsenal in the Carabao Cup fourth round, though little at Blackpool nowadays is exactly as it looks.

The most recent home attendance of 10,994, for instance, was unusually high for a club being boycotted by many of their own fans. That was because Blackpool were playing Sunderland, who brought along 7,804 of the paying spectators. The average Blackpool gate this season has been a little over 4,000, a fraction of the 16,000 they used to attract when they reached the Premier League nine years ago.

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