Wenger hints at full strength Arsenal FA cup team in Hull

It is not only that the FA cup is beginning to look like the most likely chance of a trophy for Arsenal this season, according to Arsene Wenger the oldest cup competition in football should always be treated with utmost respect. So ahead of our 5th round replay away to Steve Bruce’s Hull City side this evening, the boss has dropped a big hint that he will be playing as strong an Arsenal team as injury and fitness problems allow.

In comments reported on the Arsenal website the Frenchman spoke about how all of the clubs in the other leagues around Europe treated their own cup competitions and did not play a bunch of kids to save themselves for the league matches, even the biggest clubs like Barcelona who because of the club world cup and the Champions League will most likely play more games than the Gunners this season.

And he also suggested that Arsenal having the chance of a record three FA cup wins in a row makes it even more important that we give everything to get past Hull tonight and then do the same against the waiting Watford at the weekend. It would certainly help to cheer us fans up after the recent poor run of results has left our title hopes dangling by the proverbial thread.

And while some will certainly say that Wenger is deflecting attention from our Premier League struggles, perhaps the fact that he is the joint most successful manager in FA cup history backs up his words about always respecting it.

He said, “If we were able to do it again, it would be absolutely fantastic. There’s no country where the national cup is bigger.

“In Spain and France, nobody neglects it: not Barcelona, not Madrid. Everybody plays for it 100 per cent, with a top team always.

“I personally rate highly the FA Cup. I think it’s a fantastic, prestigious competition. I believe it is treated like that because when I listen to people, should we lose a game in the FA Cup, it would be a disaster. You cannot say on one side it’s undervalued, and on the other side if we lose, it’s a disaster.

“We won the FA Cup twice in the last two years. We will try to do our best again in this competition.”

So are we set to see a full strength Gunners tonight? And which 11 players would that be if you were to pick them?

15 Comments

  1. Hey Bob, you have been earning your corn this week!
    How is admin doing?
    I hope that he gets well soon!
    The last time that I saw him on here, ( his comment)
    he was blowing a gasket.. (50 shades of RED) ? Wenger style!

    As for Wenger’s team selection, it doesn’t matter who he picks, the most important thing is.. That HE supplies the tactics and motivation to the players that take part in the game!

  2. You can not say on one side it’s undervalued then on the other side if we lose it’s a disaster. Seems sensible and solid logic, unfortunately you will get people who say exactly that. Maybe they will say it is a disaster because we should not lose to teams who are inferior on paper, that holds no water though.

  3. There is not much Wenger can do about this, the only players I will rest are Bellerin,Ozil.. Koscielny is not ready and Monreal is not 100%..so Gibbs and Gabriel gets the nod!
    The line-up might be;
    Ospina
    Chambers Mert Gab Gibbs
    Flamini Elneny
    Campbell Iwobi Sanchez
    Giroud
    That should be able to beat Hull.

    1. I doubt that Sanchez will start!!

      Our subs bench against the Spuds, will give us a clue to who will start tonight… So Swap Sanchez for Walcott and your line up will be more or less spot on.

      1. Honestly, I thought about Walcott, but I don’t want us to play with 10 men…you know what I mean

  4. Hopefully Sanchez plays and scores. That goal against Tottenham will hopefully be the start of a little bit of form for him…

  5. He says that every time, but he still made 9 changes last time out. He could have having a go at Steve Bruce for playing his reserves in every cup game this season. Wenger will play his second team tonight and first team on Saturday

  6. OT:
    I really respect Mertesacker infact,I think we underrate him sometimes, he is just so intelligent…
    Do you remember Koscielny was a flop before?? He wasn’t considered a first choice CB.it was often Vermaelen and whenever Koscielny plays with Verm, we were always disjointed, many say its bcos they are similar maybe they are right I dunno.
    My point is, Koscielny’s rapid development came at a time when he formed a partnership with Mert…
    Cast ur mind back to the Man U and Bournemouth game,we were lucky to win against Dortmund as our defence was so shaky, don’t even talk about the Man U game that was terrible..
    Fast forward to the Derby, honestly, I dint even know Koscielny wasn’t playing.Gab was solid in that game, and more composed.so have been thinking, what could be the cause??? I concluded it has to Mert’s intelligence and great positional play, he organises our defence well and complements most defenders.he has physical presence too, the only problem is his pace but then Koscielny have his own flaws too.
    Let’s give Mert a little more respect he is a top top CB. I want Chambers to be like him, and I wish he and Gab to be the future of our defence

    1. Well said Goonerboy, and a long time due if you ask me. He is underrated, there are better out there of course but some of us go overboard in Merts case. Tactically if used right Mert is a very decent/intelligent player. You hit the nail dead on, partnership, football is about player chemistry.

      1. You are spot on with the overboard talk. I remember our previews before Barcelona,the comments made me scared with many saying if Mert plays, we will be humiliated but the reverse is the case..if he leaves, we will miss him!

  7. Delighted we have this game so to take mind off the prem, I’m sure the players are too. Looking forward to seeing Elneny play, really can’t understand why we haven’t seen him sooner. He’s fit agile and quick, typical Arsene signing so it must be his mindset on why he hasn’t been played. I think Giroud will start, Alexis and Campbell either side. That’s as far as I’m going because I can never get team selection accurate. We never know who the right winger will be or at least I don’t, striker can be sometimes surprising too. Then Arteta and Flam popping up from time, no Jack or Tomas, but still can be difficult to call from time. Ramsey, imo he should be on wing weeks ago and dropped for Elneny, either that or just plain dropped. Not having a settled first team holds us back like when a defence gets tinkered with, just my two cents.

  8. Hopefully we will have a full squad today for two reasons
    1. To win and stay in the Cup to try an win the historic hattrick of FA Cups.
    2. To give more play time to our main squad so that they can get sharper for West Bromwich. I would like to see our strikers in particular score some goals, especially Alexis.

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