Arsenal have won 3 of the last 4 FA Cups, and is that because we are obviously the best cup side in the country (of course!) or do we just always get the luck in the draws? According to the West Ham boss David Sullivan, we are always lucky. He said about the chances of West Ham winning a trophy: “Leicester was something we all thought could not happen, but they showed it can happen,” Sullivan said. “I’d settle to win a cup…and I’d love to go to Wembley and win a cup.
“Last year [in the EFL Cup] we beat Chelsea at home then got Man United away in the next round, I mean you are not going to win anything with draws like that.
“Then we get Man City in the third round of the FA Cup, Arsenal get non-league teams!
“We have been very unlucky with the draws – we get away draws – Arsenal get more home draws than any other team I’ve seen. We are due an easy, easy cup draw.”
So is this true? It may surprise Sullivan to know that Arsenal only got drawn at home once in the last FA Cup campaign. Admittedly the first three away games were against Preston, Southampton reserves and Sutton United, and the home game was in the quarter-final against Lincoln. Okay I admit we did have a very easy run to the semis, but still had to beat both Man City and Chelsea at Wembley to lift the trophy!
The year before that (2015/16) we did in fact get a home draw in every round, facing Sunderland, Burnley, Hull and Watford. But obviously we lost the last-named and that was the year that we didn’t win it!
2014/15 saw a mixed bag, with home wins against Hull and Middlesbrough, but we had to win away at Brighton, and in the quarter-final against Man United at Old Trafford. That could hardly be called lucky, but the semi and the Final were relatively easy matches against Reading and Aston Villa. You can only beat the team in front of you!
2013/14, the year that started our winning run, we did actually get all home draws again, but they were hardly against easy teams and we had to beat Tottenham, Coventry, Liverpool and Everton at home, before perhaps easier games against Wigan and Hull in the Wembley games.
So out of four seasons (16 possible favourable draws) we got 11 home games and 5 away draws. And of the five away games only two were Premiership sides, Southampton (who played their reserves) and one solitary tough game at Old Trafford.
So is Sullivan right? Have we been very, very lucky in our FA Cup draws?
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Yeah, Wengers gotten really lucky 7 times now. Lets talk about our luck in the UCL draws….
I don’t really care, but I am so proud of all 3 FA Cups in 4 years including the back to back FA Cups. I rate FA Cup very highly.
The FA Cups have been 3 bright spots in an otherwise unsuccessful 13 years.
But we can’t call ourselves one of the best if we don’t at least win the Premier League. Also we should aim to do better in Europe too.
Conte said its a disaster if Chelsea don’t win the Premier League. Wenger doesn’t have that mentality. He believes top 4 is successful.
We need to get back our winning mentality that not only won us the double but gave us the invincibles. We do that by signing more world class players and getting rid of players who lack the quality or are not hard workers.
Wenger and the board have not been ambitious enough for over a decade and it’s hurt us.
The other teams that won the FA cups in previous years ahead of Arsenal have also been equally lucky. As long as Arsenal have not influenced the draws to favour them, no qualms. In each of those years that Arsenal won, there were those draws against some tough premier league teams that were supposed to be potential banana skins for the team, yet they scaled those hurdles. So, in reality, Arsenal didn’t get soft draws, they only played the teams presented to them by the draws. Those who are now crying should wait for such draws so we can see if they can navigate the draws to win the FA cup.
I think it is more to do with the owners attitude than the manager. Abramovich is a fan who wants to win and puts his own money in, over one billion pounds and rising. Kroenke is not a fan and owns arsenal as an investment, he has calculated that aiming for top four gives the best return on his investment. Kroenke may have used his own money to buy arsenal but other than that does not put his own money in.
Conte and Wengers attitude reflects the owners attitude.
My concern is that top four (which means 3rd or 4th place, not winning it) is so ingrained in the arsenal psyche that they cannot do better when the opportunity presents itself. In the 2014/15 season there were many opportunities to get clear ahead at the top of the PL but we kept bottling it, should have, could have, didn’t, win it.
arsenal were definitely trained hard for the last two games of the last FA CUP ,especially on the final we have clearly seen that arsenal dominated Chelsea especially in the first half and that realy gave me hope that if arsene Wenger buys a good players in place of those weakly performed and continue to train hard like we did for FA cup we csn be s title contender
False we hve beaten big teams whenever we win fa cup.
Man u ,city,chelsea,spuds. I think we need to win the league to am waiting for that league title so much?
Wrong,
We beat Liverpool for the first FA cup, Manchester United (If u still consider it a big club) in the second FA cup, City and Chelsea in the third FA cup.
Don’t underestimate these achievements.
Something happened today that reminded me of the first of these 3 family cups we won.
Today, Valencia made a defensive error and Neymar scored in the United v Barca match.
When we played Man Utd in the FA Cup, Valencia made a big error and Welbeck scored the winner @ Old Trafford
That is one of my favorite FA Cup memories lol
Sorry meant FA not “family” lol
Using my mobile and my word chooser picked the wrong word
luck favours the prepared one. i remember Watford eliminating arsenal at Emirates sometime not so long ago. the Westham Manager should do his Job and forget about arsenal. if it is 13 plus times of luck what can he do about it?
That’s pure rubbish you can only play what is put in front of you
When chelsea had their celebration at stamford bridge for winning the PL, the commentator on the PA system was gloating that Kos had been sent off and would miss the FA Cup final. Complete lack of class.
Made the pleasure of winning the fa cup all the better.
Hate chelsea
One of the reasons I don`t take the FA cup or other local cups seriously is the `luck` of the draw. Even the top teams we have beaten seem to be in second gear and concentrating on greater things. It`s got to a point where we are just picking up the scraps in order to save face. The ultimate goal for the top six in the PL is to be European
Champions.
Noisy neighbour :p
A win is a win, David Sulky-van
His club getting unlucky draws is a bit different to us getting easy ones. For us a lucky draw could be a mid table club but if WHam are fighting relegation that is a tough draw for them. Every team you meet in the latter stages done well to get there, so he is also being disrespectful to clubs like WHam or smaller. But we have done well by getting some home draws which is an advantage. But come on Hammers, you can’t talk like you lot would have easily won a cup if you got our draws. I hope we get WHam in this seasons FA cup final.
Were you in this planet when we badly beat chelsea in the final?
They were thoroughly beaten. The score line only flattered them.
First reaction , who the hell would care what Sullivan has to say about anything? A dwarf porn King is not high on my interest scale of reading or debating. As for the idiotic comments, I am certain that beating Man City and Chelski is as hard as you can get. He like the imbecile woman Brady, have too much to say about other clubs and politics to be taken seriously. Another FA cup would do me nicely, beating Weast Ham in the final would be a nice revenge for the fluke of years ago.
u only beat what is put in front of u.I don’t care about what he says,winning is winning
People can say what they like it is what the F.A. Cup is all about the romance the excitement ..Besides David osullivan and his West Ham team went out in the Europe league 2years running against a team of farmers in the qualifying stages and it don’t come no easier than that.
I think the reason we go to sport is to firstly entertain ourselves, and therefore we shud not look for every reason to make ourselves sad with Arsenal, it beats the main reason we got to b football fans,. Have a reason to celebrate always, be it beating Bayern in a friendly or FA cup. Life is already unfair enough why kill yourself with arsene/arsenal stress
We went 10yrs without a trophy n we were being trolled by many that we made the Emirates cup to have smthing in the cabinet, by then some of us here were crying for even a carling cup. We now hav 3 cups in four years! Even Conte was refering to ‘a double’, why not one n half since FA has no significance?
Nonoñonono! be happy
Celebrate a good move, celebrate a goal, celebrate a save, celebrate a win, celebrate a cup, celebrate EPL! letz b fans
I dont side with the notion of getting easy draws in the FA cup.
There are no minnows in the premier league or championship.