HAPPINESS will be a heated football pitch this weekend as the third round of the FA Cup struggles to cope with an even worse interference from the weather than it suffered four years ago, when a combination of frost and fog led to 10 of the 32 ties being postponed.

With 12 games called off yesterday and further pitch inspections planned for today and tomorrow, that figure is likely to be comfortably exceeded. For the moment Premier League clubs like Leeds United and Wimbledon, facing awkward encounters away to opponents from the lower divisions, only stand to be defeated by the pools panel.

Just to keep things in perspective the severe winter of 1963, which led to the panel's introduction, saw nearly 500 fixtures disrupted. Only three third round Cup ties went ahead on schedule, and the round was not completed until the second week in March.

A tie between Lincoln City and Coventry City was postponed 15 times before Coventry won 5-1. Coventry's Cup game with Woking, of the Vauxhall Conference, was the last to be called off yesterday. One down, 14 to go.

This time the luck of the draw has guaranteed that nearly all the usual FA Cup favourites will be in action over the next two days, whatever the weather. Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United will all be warming their toes at home. But Aston Villa's tie tomorrow depends on a pitch inspection at Notts County.

For Manchester United tomorrow's visit of Tottenham (BBC 1, 4.0) to Old Trafford, as well as being the tie of the round, will be the first chance Alex Ferguson's players have to show their determination to go for a third Premiership and FA Cup double in four seasons.

Given United's presence in the quarter finals of the League the odds against this happening are considerable, but their FA Cup record suggests that they will not approach the task in quite the cavalier manner of their recent League Cup matches.

Since losing to Sheffield United in the fifth round four years ago success in the FA Cup has become a matter of pride for Manchester United. They have played 21 Cup games, reached Wembley three times and lost only once, to Everton in the 1995 final.

That was the season when Spurs, inspired by Juergen Klinsmann and Teddy Sheringham with solid assistance from Daren Anderton and Nicky Barmby, knocked out Liverpool at Anfield in the sixth round only to lose to Everton in the semi finals.

How things have changed. Tomorrow Tottenham, long since bereft of Klinsmann and Barmby, will be without the injured Sheringham and Anderton, not to mention Chris Armstrong and the long term casualty, Gary Mabbutt. In addition, Steffen Iversen, Sol Campbell and Rory Allen will all have late fitness tests.

For Tottenham supporters, fearing that all meaning to their season is about to disappear, this represents the worst case scenario. Manchester United's only concern lies in deciding whether to give Andy Cole his first start to a game since recovering from two cracked shins. Ole Solskjaer will step down if Cole plays.

Compared to Tottenham, Sunderland will travel to Highbury today in perhaps a slightly more optimistic and almost certainly more aggressive frame of mind. The manner of their 2-0 defeat at Arsenal in September, when Peter Reid saw two of his players sent off and was himself banished from the dug out, still rankles.

Arsenal, moreover, have selection problems for Arsene Wenger's first experience of FA Cup football. Ian Wright is suspended, David Seaman, David Platt, Lee Dixon and Reme Garde are unfit, and Dennis Bergkamp, Paul Merson, Tony Adams and Ray Parlour are under treatment. A rousing, raucous replay at Roker beckons.

Chelsea, knocked out of the League Cup by Bolton this season, will be as wary of West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge today as Newcastle United will be at Charlton tomorrow. Liverpool were taken to a fourth round replay by Burnley at Turf Moor two years ago but ought not to slip up against them at Anfield, even if Robbie Fowler is forced to rest a damaged shin.

Everton, badly hit by injuries and beaten three times over Christmas and the new year, will be less sanguine about the prospect of meeting their old teammate Steve McMahon's Swindon side at Goodison. This tie has upset written all over it meaning that Everton could win.