Dan’s FA Cup 3rd Rnd Predictions – Arsenal to make up for last year’s darkest day?

Tranmere 1-3 Spurs
It’s funny how for decades managers were judged on what they won, yet media darling Poche says the cups are not important ( because he hasn’t won any!) and everyone is going along with it. Let’s see how he changes his tune if he ever takes Spurs to a Final? I think he will rest key men for the League Cup Semi Final, which will give
the hosts a chance before quality prevails.

Saturday
Bournemouth 2-0 Brighton
Eddie Howe over the years has been questioned for not giving the cup a go. Hes not going to do that during a poor run. Chris Hughton will feel the same. It’s sad when two Premiership sides play their reserves in front of a half empty stadium.

Blackpool 1-2 Arsenal
I hope all involved have learnt from 12 months ago when arrogance on/off the pitch cost us at Forest, our darkest day of 2018. Arsene Wenger didn’t even name a strong bench as our youngsters assumed, we simply had to show up. So, Unai Emery has to find the balance between giving key players a rest after a mentally tiring Christmas and not gambling with the most likely competition we can win. Would it be that much a shock if our attitudes were poor or our defenders were physically bullied?

Burnley 0-2 Barnsley
Sean Dyche is a pragmatist, so I can see him making whole sale changes and not apologising for it. With Barnsley going well in League 1 that might even itself out

West Ham 2-1 Birmingham
It’s hard to second guess managers when it comes to the FA Cup but as a side who are not going to get relegated or get into Europe, the Hammers should give this a go. I don’t think they are comfortable ever being the favourites and the Championship side might try to bully them, but the home side have match winners.

Chelsea 2-1 Forrest
I think Chelsea will rest players for their League cup semi-final but they have plenty of players desperate for a game who will want to use this tie to make an impression. It’s funny their manager asks for a striker at a time when they have agreed for Pulisic to join in the summer. Clearly Sarri was not aware of that purchase and would have preferred fire power for the here and now. By way how come not being in the Champions League hasn’t affected the Blue’s transfer policy?

Derby 3-1 Southampton
The Saints are having to do the equivalent of pre-season training at Xmas, so I think they will treat this as two weeks off to get the first team up to fitness. Derby meanwhile have several promising youngsters who will see this as another chance to make a statement.

Everton 3-2 Lincoln
Lincoln are probably the lower League side you don’t want to face, in terms of a banana skin. Top of their League they can have a go at Goodison with the pressure off. Everton have struggled in games when they are expected to win and Silva might feel pressured to play a strong side.

Gillingham 0-0 Cardiff
Neil Warnock isn’t hiding his surprise that his team are out of the relegation zone going into the New Year. He might look at this as his last opportunity to succeed in the top flight and won’t sacrifice that for a cup run. I can see this being Cardiff’s reserves against a team struggling in League One.

Bristol City 3 0 Huddersfield
A rare example where the lower league side are favourites despite the visitors being from the Premiership. David Wagner needs to find a goal scorer for this not to be a fixture next season. I wonder what he thinks about Defoe going to Rangers?

Crystal Palace 3-0 Grimsby
Another team who prefer to be the underdog, not comfortable with being favourites. The quicker they can buy a striker the better.

Newcastle 1-2 Blackburn
From a PR perspective Newcastle should try and have a cup run. The Toon army are no nearer seeing transfer activity while news of new owners have gone quiet. The fans need some hope, but Rafa is the type though who will think a defeat is worth the reward of giving his first team a weekend to rest

Man United 3-0 Reading
The benefit of being an interim manager is you can afford to say what everyone wants to hear. Solskjaer of course wants to do whatever it takes to have an outside chance of getting the job full time. He’s saying all the right things like Man United being a big club while smiling more in a month then Jose did in 3 years. I think he will prioritise winning the Cup with United as his best chance to getting the position full time.

Sunday

Man City 4-0 Rotherham
City will probably play a strong team in midweek. Of course, they have 2 world class players for each position so will still win comfortably.

Fulham 1-0 Oldham
Big enough gap for Fulham to win with fringe players.

Woking 0-4 Watford
Watford have plenty of options in attack to avoid what would be biggest upset of round. Not quite a cricket score like their manager predicts but comfortable for the Hornets.

Newport 1-1 Leicester
Newport put together an atmosphere which scared Spurs to death last year so will hope to do the same when the Foxes come to town. Puel got heat for playing a weak side in the League Cup so his line up will be interesting.

Monday
Wolves 2-1 Liverpool
Having lost for the first time in the League it’s good for Liverpool to have a break from the Premiership, denying City a chance to gain quick momentum. Klopp may well disregard the cup to concentrate on defending his 4 point lead at the top of the table.

Dan Smith

30 Comments

  1. I believe Emery would use the senior players mixed with the youngins and win by a close margin:

    ………………..Leno
    …Koscielny . Mustafi . Sokratis
    Niles . Willock . Elneny . Monreal
    ..Ramsey . Lacazette . Saka

  2. We were defending the cup…. to lose at the first hurdle against Forest was absolutely devastating (& it was my birthday!) Was so pi*sed off!!
    Hopefully that won’t be repeated tomorrow…. COYG

        1. Declan and Sue, no wonder we are often of like minds. We are all Capricorns; my birthday is the 15th.
          Happy Birthday to all of us!??⚽??

  3. The best defence is a good offence.
    Play our strongest attacking line up and a 2 or 3 goal lead should be enough – even with our calamitous defence…

  4. Totts 7-0 up Tranmere are like a Sunday league team but would anyone bet they would turn into a Barcelona against us ? has anyone seen the Tranmere captain? I swear he’s about 57 ?

      1. Of course Kane needs to get his goal tally up ? haha now the media will be drooling over them all weekend because they beat a team sponsored by B&M ?

          1. They might as well give them the cup now Sue ? haha never a truer word spoken ? Arry redknapp even thinks the team is that good nobody in the January window could improve them! Go back to the Jungle were you belong ?

                1. Haha brilliant Sue ? a real team is playing in Blackpool tomorrow let’s not forget ? there will be some illuminations from my house tomorrow if we get knocked out though ?

                  1. I read Smith Rowe & Bellerin trained today.. but no Ozil ?
                    Haha very good John!! If we lose I’ll have a major meltdown (for the second Saturday running!) ??

                    1. I hear that ? me too it’ll be even more embarrassing then when we lost to Bradford in the league cup ? Ozil ? Who’s he Sue ? He used to play for Real Madrid and Arsenal didn’t he ?

  5. Apparently Juventus has agreed a 7m deal with Ramsey. According to Skysports, clubs like Bayern, Barca, PSG and Inter Milan were all interested in signing him.
    What I know is only top players attracts top clubs and Arsenal are making a big mistake letting him go.

    1. Tbh he’s very replaceable imo all those stupid flicks he does is very irritating he sometimes just overplays when all he has to do is play it simple! But for 7 million it’s ridiculous when Solanke went for 20 again that’s Arsenals fault they couldn’t organise a p*ss up in a brewery

      1. For the price Bournemouth paid for Solanke.. we sold/swapped Wilshere, Szczesny, Sanchez, Gnabry, Welbz, Gibbs….possibly Ramsey for around the same price?? Crazy

        1. All down to that plank Ivan Gazidis so glad he’s gone! I swear he could be the next prime minister he talks that much Cr*p even cesc went for pennies and that was paid in installments.. if cesc was a Liverpool player he’d have been sold for about 80 million! Podolski was sold for a day ticket at Alton towers and I think we paid West ham to take Lucas Perez don’t believe the reports that we received 4 million ?

  6. Di Marzio linking us with Denis Suarez. He’s got a pretty good record on transfers, so it’s worth a listen. This seems like a Ramsey replacement. Haven’t seen much of the guy play, but he has a rather solid reputation. Until we get back into UCL we’ll have trouble attracting higher rated players honestly. Idk how I feel about it yet if it does happen.

    1. And I know people are thinking we need defenders… There are none top ones available besides Godin. Who likely wouldn’t want to drop to a club not in UCL. Truth is unless a great opportunity comes we will probably have to wait until the summer and hopefully we will spend big on a top CB. But there are no top CB’s around this winter, unlike last time when VVD happened to be available.

  7. I have to post it here, cause no one going to put article about this. Forget abt us. Have you all watch Villareal vs Real Madrid? Its like Santi Cazorla vs Real Madrid. 2-2. Scored 2 goal at d age of 34 against Real Madrid. If arsenal going to buy senior player, it must be him.

  8. I am looking forward to following Aaron Ramsey’s progress at Juventus. The grass has not always been greener on the other side of the fence for players who have left Arsenal. Although similar to Van Persie, Ramsey if played should win medals at Juventus.

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