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Manchester United takes on Reading in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday.
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In the United States, the match (3 p.m. ET start time) won’t be on TV, but anyone in the US can watch Manchester United vs Reading live on ESPN+ right here:
ESPN+ includes every FA Cup and Carabao Cup match, plus dozens of other live sports, every 30-for-30 documentary and additional original content (both video and written) for $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year (or $13.99 per month for a bundle of all three of ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu).
Once signed up for ESPN+, you can watch Manchester United vs Reading live on the ESPN app or ESPN.com.
Compatible devices for the ESPN app include Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4 or 5, Xbox One or Series X/S, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), Samsung Smart TV, Oculus Go, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
Manchester United vs Reading Preview
Every year throughout the professional soccer season in England, all of the professional teams from the Premier League on down to level 9 are placed into a bracket and take part in the Football Association Challenge Cup, or the FA Cup, which is a knockout soccer tournament.
Taking part are the 20 Premier League clubs, 72 English Football League clubs, and all clubs from levels 5 through 9. Entries are not seeded, but league level rankings ensure that higher-ranked clubs earn early round byes.
The competition has so many teams that the preliminary rounds begin in August. November is when the “competition proper” begins, and now in January through May are the fourth and fifth rounds, the quarterfinals, the semis, and the final.
In the 2022-2023 FA Cup, there are now 32 teams left. The lowest-ranked team left in the competition happens to be the one owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, the Wrexham Red Dragons.
On January 28, the Manchester United Red Devils are taking on the Reading Royals. The fans of underdog team Reading, who all must travel to Man U’s stadium of Old Trafford in Stretford, are unhappy about the start time of 8 p.m. local time because there’s no train home after the game is over.
“Given what the viable options were for the times of the game (12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on the Saturday), we are disappointed that ITV Sport has chosen 8 p.m., a time which will inconvenience a great many of our fans,” the Supporters’ Trust at Reading (STAR) said in a statement. “At present, the last train back to Reading from Manchester is 9:25 p.m., meaning a return train journey on the same day is only possible if our fans are prepared to miss most of the second half of the match itself.”
They also object to the steep ticket price and said that, “All in all, the two decisions leave a very bitter taste. We know our fans will travel in numbers, but we believe that, with a more sensible kick-off time and pricing structuring in place, we could take many more. We fully understand that money talks in the modern game, but that doesn’t make it right. Fans at matches are the lifeblood of any club and this needs to be remembered.”
The Manchester United vs Reading FA Cup fourth round game kicks off at 3 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN Plus.