Arsenal travel to Portsmouth today in the FA Cup third round, and this is the starting eleven as announced by Mikel Arteta.
Arteta is leading what is widely regarded as one of Arsenal’s strongest squads of the past decade, and he is fully aware of the importance of progressing in this competition. Every trophy Arsenal are competing for this season is viewed as achievable, and the depth of their squad has allowed them to challenge seriously on multiple fronts.
The Gunners will be determined to avoid becoming another high-profile casualty in this round of the FA Cup. Several upsets have already occurred, and Portsmouth will be hoping to join the list of clubs that have eliminated top-level opposition. However, the history of this fixture suggests such an outcome would be unlikely.
Arsenal approach the match in strong form, having gone unbeaten in their last eight matches and winning seven of those games.
Portsmouth enter the match looking to respond after losing their most recent competitive fixture against Bristol City. Prior to that defeat, they had enjoyed a run of four consecutive unbeaten matches and will be aiming to begin another positive spell with a strong performance against Arsenal.
Playing at home may provide some encouragement, but Arteta’s side understands the importance of approaching this fixture with full focus. Arsenal will not be complacent, aware that cup competitions can punish even the smallest lapse in concentration.
With momentum on their side and a clear objective to compete for every available trophy, Arsenal will be intent on delivering a professional performance and securing their place in the next round of the FA Cup, while Portsmouth will hope belief and home support can inspire a memorable result.
______________________________________________________________________
ADMIN COMMENT
So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
Jesus.
Martinelli. Nwaneri. Madueke.
Eze. Merino.
Skelly. Gabriel. Norgaard. White.
Kepa.
Looks good enough to see as through. COYG
I’d have been tempted to play Gyokeres instead of Jesus, I see him as back up to Jesus and Havertz now, not good enough to start in the league anymore.
I hope Saliba is just given a full complete rest and he is not injured.
Good to see Havertz back on the bench. Hopefully we get some good 15 minutes from him later in the second half.
Yes. Hoping for some Kai. Maybe from left back.
No Ricky prob means no run out no start against Chelsea. Skelly may start there Wednesday.
Merino will play CDM. I hope Havertz will play in the second half
I was hoping for more academy players on the bench! Arteta has gone for full experience and serious abou5 winning something this season
Arteta needs to be more brave, where’s the boys from the academy? There’s no need to have all of Rice, Saka, Raya, Zubimendi and Timber on the bench honestly. They’ve had enough minutes already this season. With all due respect to Portsmouth FC
Oyama, Salmon’s on the bench. What other academy players did you have in mind?
Yeah, I remember Wenger giving a lot of chances to youth players, which is admirable, but not many of them ever became top-flight players.
For every Gnabry, you had 15 Miquels, Lansburys, Meridas, Frimpongs.
Only 1 player, against a team in the bottom 4 of the championship? I believe Arsenal are record winners of the FA cup all this happened Wenger giving opportunities to academy players in the FA cup.
Always crying always negative lmao this is literally our 2nd team except Gabriel who is only playing because mosquera and hincapie are injured. You need to have your best players incase something goes bad. Cup holders C.palace just got eliminated by a 6th division team.
where’s the boys from the academy? Skelly, Nwaneri and Salmon are right there.
No Skelly-Lewis and Nwaneri are no longer academy players they are 1st team. Am not being negative rather asking why does Arteta see the need to involve Saka, Rice and the others every match? I thought against Liverpool we lacked energy and looked tired .
18, 19, 16 still count as academy/young players. Also we have to give our squad players game time to keep their game fitness.
Finally u need your best players on bench incase we found ourselves in a tough spot.
I doubt Portsmouth is even playing their best 11 with them in the relagation zone, surely they have bigger problems to worry about than being concerned with FA cup. This Arsenal 11 was always going to be too much for Portsmouth, all am saying mix it up on bench with more academy players not 1. For me this is a missed opportunity to see which academy players are ready to step up. Skelly-Lewis and Nwaneri may be young but they’re no longer involved with the academy, Skelly was a regular not long ago.
Other than Gabriel, this is pretty much our second eleven, and still a worthy team, even with Noorgard out of position. Plenty of midfield skill, and should be good enough.
The Pompy manager just called Arsenal “the best team in the world.” Is he trying to lull us into a false sense of security?🤣
Never a truer word uttered Jax!!
You could see early on yesterday, Palace players had mind set it would be stroll in the park. Let’s look early doors for different mindset from us. We need to be hungry and vicious.
1000% true. EPL and UCL top of the tables. What other parameters are available to not say so? Even the Emerys and Franks let alone the Pompeys uttered like that praising the works of Arteta.
Do you think Arteta’s newly adopted method of. the team travelling together in a bus instead of private vehicles had impact on team’s performances?
That was so poor..
Couldn’t deal with the press again.
What a terrific start 🙄
Are we going to bottle the season now
No
A quick response!
15 minutes still searching to see Eze. Except the corner
Portsmouth are really giving tough fight
We are not going to have an easy game
There’s something fundamentally wrong when we constantly struggle to retain ball possession and make so many poor passes. We even lose alot of the 50/50 challenges. What is going on?
I agree on 50-50 challenges
We poor in winning the 2nd balls as well.
Also we are struggling against physical side
It happened against Sunderland
It is happening again against Portsmouth
It’s true, we do struggle with physical sides. What doesn’t help is our inability to impose a quick attacking style of football on them. We slow the game down too much allowing teams to press us causing us to lose the ball. Our set peices might be what wins us the game today.
Credit to Portsmouth
Their pressing is spot on so far
Set piece again ole ole!
Corner fc and own goal fc back in form to save us.
Should I be happy to see that we are 2-1 ahead or concerned that we need set piece to score against Portsmouth who are in relegation battle in EFL Championship??
And both goals we needed a set piece
Who cares as long as we win
Exactly!
We are not seeing the best of players left out so long, have no rhythm.
The dangers of lots of changes.
I didn’t know there was so many Liverpool fans in Portsmouth 🙄 Good on Gabi for his goal
The key here is not how much they cost not how much we cost, or whose where in football pyramid, it’s don’t shirk challenges, tackles or press, keep the head on the job and energy up.
Madueke in Igbo means no end product.
Crying out loud Madueke
Missing two great chances for 3 . 1 is not the clinical focus I was talking about.
It’s funny MG but I’m not laughing
Same applies to Skelly whose lack of pace unfortunately hampers him
WTF Madueke, that was an open net!?
Ffs should have killed the game already with Martinelli and Madueke misses.
Yes
Should have been 4-1 ahead by now
Lewis Skelly is worst than Zinchenko in defending
He wasn’t bad to get all those plaudits and England caps, but one start every 7 weeks doesn’t help get that form back. I still think Skelly may be better suited to the Zoob and Rice roles. Hope he’s given chance there.
To be fair, even when he used to start teams targeted him! He is no left or at least that’s not his natural position.
Skelly is having an howler. But he’s not alone when it comes to sub-parr performances from some of these non-starters. You would think they would be eager to prove!
If we’re being completely honest the performance has been a bit cr*p again..
Madueke lost the ball and this led to Portsmouth’s goal
He redeemed himself with his perfect corner delivery to Martinelli’s head and the penalty award, but his penalty method was ridiculous
At least Jesus showed better link-up play and skills than Gyokeres
Expect changes at half time. Who replaces who? Surely Gyokeres on Jesus off
I think Jesus will stay longer, then Havertz might replace him after the seventieth minute
Awful penalty from madueke, good to see Harvetz back and he gets some minutes. Think he will score on his return and a nice warm up for him to the Chelsea game.
The FACup isn’t the same kettle of fish as the league. This is frenetic stuff rather than the more measured football we see in the league
Hopefully blow them away in the 1st 15 minutes on 2nd half which I fully expect
Gabi again 🫡
That’s the difference between Gyökeres and other forwards
Gyökeres never anticipates that we will cross like that
Don’t you just love a set piece goal😂
You got to love them now
God
All 4 goals by set pieces
Good assist by Madueke once again.
So happy for Martinelli. Great hatrick!
Agree, great performance by Martinelly, Happy for Martinelli and his hattrick
Love that for Martinelli, scoring in all our cup games!
Let’s see Salmon leap into action
Don’t worry SueP, I’ll get your coat for you 😂
At least someone noticed GB😂😂
SueP,
Two good jokes in one day, I’m getting worried. If you’re wondering, I’m referring to you’re whopper joke on another post. 😂👍
SueP,
My apologies, you’re first joke was about Burger King. 😂👍
You’re the best Derek to be fair
SueP,
Thank you for you’re kind words. But I think not all poster’s will concur with you on that. 😂👍
Groan!!!
Pretty clear Kai will be our starting striker again by end of the month. Already you can see the clear difference he makes in our attack, good to have him back
Loving our away fans and their chants 😆
The Emirates is nervy or anxious, our away fans just love enjoying themselves.
They certainly gave it to Gary Neville, Kenya 🤣🤣🤣