Monday 20 February 2017

Arsenal's FA Cup Game At Sutton Previewed

Arsenal play away to Sutton United tonight in the last 16 of the FA Cup with their path to the semi finals clearly laid out for them. They play a non league team tonight and the reward for the winner is a quarter final game at home to the other non league team left in the competition. With the greatest of respect to both Sutton and Lincoln we could not have asked for an easier draw. 

First of all we play against a Sutton team tonight who have looked very good so far and will have home advantage on their artificial surface. Those two elements will of course be in their favour, but we are still huge favourites to advance to the next round without the need for a replay. As bad as we might have been recently it would take an even worse performance than the one in Munich for Sutton to have any hope tonight. 

Not only have Arsenal had almost a week to recover from the mauling in Munich, but they don't play next weekend thanks to the EFL Cup final between Southampton and United. There will be no need to rest players for bigger games tonight because the FA Cup is our only realistic chance of a trophy just like it has been at this stage of the last three seasons too. We managed to win two of them and no other team has won more FA Cups than Arsenal while no other manager has won it more times than Arsene Wenger.

If this is going to be his last season at the club (no one really knows the answer to that) then maybe it would be in some way fitting if he could end it with a trophy. The FA Cup isn't the Holy Grail of the Premier League or the Champions League, but it's certainly better than no trophy at all. If he could leave as the record winner of the trophy as both a club and a manager it wouldn't be the worst way for him to finish. 

We will have to overcome Sutton first though and even with no game next weekend I think we will see a few changes. To be honest the team which capitulated in Munich needs to be changed and there are a few players who could look to make an impact on a rare outing. It's a no win situation for Arsenal though with everyone bar the Arsenal faithful hoping for an upset and even a few of them would like to see it if it hastened the departure of the manager.

I'm not in that camp though and I will always want Arsenal to win. I'm hoping for a display to show they have put Munich behind them, but to be honest any win will do all things considered. I have no doubt Sutton will put it up to them and try to put them off their game, but I also have no doubt that we are vastly superior to them.

If Sutton were to win tonight it would be one of the biggest shocks ever in the FA Cup. Arsenal are royalty when it comes to this competition and they cannot allow themselves to succumb to the commoners tonight. As bad as the defeat in Munich might have been a defeat tonight would open the gates of hell and the repercussions would last for a very long time.

I think those players will bounce back tonight and a win would put them on the road to recovery too. There's still a top four place to play for and an attempt to regain some respect in the second leg against Bayern. If we are going to have any hope of doing either of those things we need to start out on the road tonight.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

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