Aston Villa’s wretched season continued as they were taken to a replay by fourth-tier minnows Wycombe Wanderers following a 1-1 draw at Adams Park – their 16th successive game without victory.
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“Welbeck will be three to four weeks”, said Wenger, who confirmed Mikel Arteta is fit. There will still be plenty of quality within the side to see out a steady, albeit hard-fought win.
I wouldn’t say we are discussing it but we are thinking about it. Anything in the cup can happen, it is not always straightforward.
“It’s complicated a little bit, but we are working hard on it and hope in the next two-three days we get to the end of it”, Wenger told reporters on Friday, ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup clash against Sunderland.
So if there is to be criticism of the raft of changes he makes to his Sunderland side for today’s third-round game at the Emirates, and despite the Black Cats’ parlous league position there will still be those who claim he has shown too much disrespect to an English footballing institution, no one will be more disappointed than the man signing his name at the bottom of the team sheet.
But ultimately Sunderland exited the FA Cup at the third round stage for the first time since Martin O’Neill’s side was knocked out in a replay at the hands of Bolton Wanderers in 2013.
Allardyce is unlikely to risk veteran defenders John O’Shea and Wes Brown, while nine-goal top scorer Jermain Defoe and key midfielder Lee Cattermole are also set to be rested for Wednesday’s trip to South Wales. We don’t because we have a big squad and we feel we are equipped to deal with all the competitions. “I haven’t decided yet”.
That means the likes of Alex Iwobi and Jeff Reine-Adelaide could feature as well as fringe players like Mathieu Debuchy and Calum Chambers, who are in need of playing time.
Arsenal have a rather brilliant record against the Black Cats as they boast a win percent of about 55.56.
Iwobi and Cech are two of five changes to the Arsenal team that started last week’s 1-0 win over Newcastle in the Premier League. Petr Cech, Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott added some seniority to the team.
The Gunners boss will become the most successful manager in FA Cup history if his side can retain the famous trophy for what would be a third successive season. Their last FA Cup final was in 1992 when they lost 2-0 to Graeme Souness’ Liverpool whilst still in the Second Division.
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“I used to get up early Saturday morning on FA Cup final day, and the FA Cup Saturday started at ten o’clock”. Wenger clearly had a word at halftime because we came out with a lot more intensity and desire in the second half and pushed Sunderland deeper and deeper and really should have taken the lead in the first 10 minutes.
