FA cup history beckons for Wenger and FULL STRENGTH Arsenal

Arsenal fans will not be content for Arsene Wenger and the players to merely get to the final of the FA cup at Wembley in May, because if we get there we will all be expecting to win it again, no matter whether it would be against Liverpool or Aston Villa. First of all though, the Gunners need to get past Reading.

Despite some suggestions that Arsenal might already be planning for a second final in a year, the manager is not taking anything for granted. He may have once had a reputation for treating the oldest cup competition in world football with a lack of respect, but as he pointed out in an interview on the Arsenal website, it is unlikely that he was on the verge of becoming the most successful manager in the competition´s history if that was true.

Wenger said, “Yes, I have many times been suspected of that but my record tells how seriously we play every game. You do not play 10 semi-finals if you do not prepare properly for these games. I’m proud of that consistency. It’s still the same excitement in a game like that as it was in the first one.”

Should the Frenchman steer our side to glory again, it will put him right on top of the table of FA cup winning coaches, matching the six won by George Ramsay with Aston Villa around 100 years ago. Perhaps more importantly for the Prof, it will take him above his old rival Alex Ferguson.

It would also take Arsenal above Fergie´s old club Manchester United, who are currently tied with us on 11 wins apiece. So with a place in history beckoning it is hardly surprising to see the boss say in another Arsenal.com report that he will be taking no chances against Reading and will field his strongest possible starting line-up.

He declared, “It’s not a game that I look at as an opportunity for some individual players, it’s just an opportunity to go to the final. I will pick the team that, in my opinion, has the best chance to win the game.

“I’m concerned about finding a collective balance. That can include some of these players or not, but honestly, I haven’t decided who will start the game on Saturday.

“Everybody feels that it’s difficult to get in the team. All the players have top, top quality. Of course it’s difficult for me as well to make these kind of decisions.

“You do not ask anybody to understand that he doesn’t play because they all deserve to play. They have to accept it and to respect the decision, that’s what you want from the players.”

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