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Should Arteta play his strongest team in the FA Cup against Man City?

Last weekend our game was referred to as ‘retro Arsenal vs Man United’ in reference to how the clubs used to always face off with high stakes.

In 1999 the rivals took place in one of the greatest FA Cup ties of all time when they met at Villa Park at the semi Final stage. More than just the trophy, it was viewed the winner would gain a mental edge on their opponent.

We were attempting to retain the Double while United were aiming for a historic treble.

Such is the small margin between success and failure, it’s zero exaggeration to say that if Bergkamp had converted his stoppage time penalty we would have gone on to be champions that season. It hurt so much, the Dutchman never took a penalty again?

This Friday 1st meets second in the Cup again yet it remains to be seen if either manager views this as a chance to mentally upset the other?

In complete contrast to how Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson felt about each other, Guardiola is Arteta’s mentor and clearly their friendship remains strong. So strong that It wouldn’t shock me if (off record) they let the other one know that maybe there will be some squad rotation going on at the Etihad.

That’s despite both preaching that their principles is to win the next game.

I know some Gooners who would rather key talent get some rest this week, that with a five point lead at the top of the Prem (and a game in hand ) over City, we don’t need the distraction of other competitions. The irony being that this is the tournament that has been our sole comfort for the last two decades, the one item that put smiles on our faces.

I blame the likes of Klopp for bringing this mindset to English Football. By constantly telling the media how horrible the schedule is and how players need protecting, we now have a generation of supporters who would rather be knocked out of the cup so players get a break, rather than simply enjoy the chase.

Having done his apprenticeship under Pep, I would like to think that our manager shares the hunger to win as many trophies as possible.

Of course his ex-boss has the luxury of being able to field separate elevens every few days and still field a world class team. City’s second string beat ours, and it’s not a shock if their second team beat our first.

In other words to give himself the best possible chance of advancing, we should be playing our strongest 11 and carry on our momentum.

There’s zero reason not to. It’s been nearly a whole week since we last played and will be over a week when we play again. The majority of our squad had a month off in November and December that they wouldn’t have got any other year, while the only Gooner to still be at the World Cup after the Q Final was Saliba who only played a few minutes in the group stage.

Not just do I expect our strongest team to play I would expect them to want to play, to want to win the Cup, to get one over on City, to prove we can beat them.

Anything else is kind of both coaches being cowardly in their game of chess.

Neither wanting their team to be mentally impacted by a defeat, so make changes to give you an excuse to hide behind.

If nothing else this could be decent preparation for our two fixtures with the Champions, which could go a long way to deciding the title race.

For all Arteta knowing his teachers methods he’s yet to beat him.

What’s better, win and maybe a star name gets injured or get humiliated again at the Etihad, but key talent have a weekend off?

Dan

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58 Comments

  1. “For all Arteta knowing his teachers methods he’s yet to beat him”

    I could swear he beat them in the FA Cup winning semi final.

    But totally agree. If he plays his first team tonight and wins… momentum will swing our way and confidence will be sky high. Even if we lose, we have proved we have the right attitude to bounce back.

    We have over a week until our next EPL game, so what is there to lose? So let’s make a spectacle of it.

    COYG

    1. What is there to lose?? WHat would you say if one of our key players gets a hamstring or knee injury that lays them out for several weeks, if not months? How about broken limbs? We all know our squad isnt strong enough

      We have 18 cup finals left in the league and we need to concentrate on that. For once, the FA Cup shouldnt be our priority.

      1. Have to agree with you.
        The point about “trying to win as many trophies as possible” is mute IMO.
        To gives us the best chance possible of winning the primary trophy would be ambition.
        Long term injuries to Odegaard, Saka, Partey, Xhaka and even Nketiah could be a disaster.
        I hope he leaves as many of the out as possible.
        And there is even a good case for letting players like Vieira, Trossard, ESR and Lokonga get a start. It can help us in the long run.

    2. @NickerlessBender – i replied to your post ystdy re why we shouldnt play our big players and look what’s happened – Partey came off injured which could be a massive loss to us if he misses ANY games. Do you still think we still needed to have played our strongest team?

  2. I believe Arteta should put out a strong side, if we were to lose by the same score Chelsea did, it could have a significant effect on the team, Trossard should start, Turner in goal, Tierney and Tomiyasu in defence, and the rest should be the regular team if we need to bring on White and others then so be it, we have Everton next away which could be tricky as they will want to impress their new manager, would have preferred if Lampard was still there. If we could nick this game 2-1 at their empty ground it would go very well with Arsenal fans and the players, besides this is our trophy

  3. So strong that It wouldn’t shock me if (off record) they let the other one know that maybe there will be some squad rotation going on at the Etihad. I doubt that very much, why on earth would any manager do that, friendship goes out of the window when it comes to football, have you never faced a team with mates and even brothers in the team,? I have and the level you put in goes up a lot, you give nothing away and give everything to get one over them

  4. Nketiah.

    Trossard. Fabio. Saka.

    Xhaka. Partey.

    Tierney. Gabriel. Saliba. Tomiyasu.

    Turner.

    SUBS –

    Ramsdale.
    Martinelli.
    Odegaard.
    Marquinhos.
    Lokonga.
    Zinchenko.
    White.
    Kiwior.
    Holding.

    1. The difference will be too much without Odegaard & Zinchenko

      We can bench Martinelli for Trossard (No quality drop, probably a quality increase even)

      Turner for Ramsdale (We’ll still be fine)

      Tomiyasu for Ben White (Both almost same level)

      And that’s all

      1. Turner
        Tomi – Saliba – Gabriel – Zinchenko
        Partey – Xhaka
        Saka – Nketiah – Trossard

        Man City play bullish football, they coming to the Emirates after this match, if they win this OR win it easily
        they’ll come bully us at the Emirates

        if they win at the Emirates then we can assume they’ll successful reduce the point-gap by 6points singlehandedly

        We need them to come to the Emirates to play cautiously, so we need to have a bite in this game

        Guys, I believe we can afford some injuries now, the team can handle almost any team – we done with Man Utd & Tottenham both legs

        We don’t need our best team to beat Chelsea at the Emirates (We can say likewise for Liverpool)

        The problem to our winning the title now are the two-legged EPL matches against Man City

        Beat them here
        They play cautiously in the EPL games and we playout a draw/two draws… THAT’S FINE

  5. I dont think Arteta should play his strongest XI. My take:
    1. The squad players should get their minutes not only to prove their worth but also not risking the regular starting XI, the season is still long and hard.
    2. With due respect to the FA Cup, start with the bench players and bring on the big guns, if required, somewhere in the second half to turn the tide. The FA Cup is definitely important, but more important is the PL title push, so no point in taking risks.
    3. Beating City with whatever team we put out should be great, the squad players must be ready to take on important responsibilities and the best way to ensure that is by playing them against City, nothing better to get a confidence booster.

  6. Nketiah.

    Trossard. Fabio. Saka.

    Xhaka. Partey.

    Tierney. Gabriel. Saliba. Tomiyasu.

    Turner.

    SUBS –

    Ramsdale.
    Martinelli.
    Odegaard.
    Smith-Rowe.
    Lokonga.
    Zinchenko.
    White.
    Kiwior.
    Holding.

  7. If our strongest 11 were to lose and Pep decides to rotate it will have a strong bearing on our 2 EPL games against them and may expose some weaknesses our team might have.

    Play our bench players, EPL and EL should be our priority. Pep likes mind games lets not give him more amo. City tend to play dirty too when under the pressure, God forbid one bad tackle from Walker on Saka – Walker gets the red but City wont suffer while Arsenal’s season goes in panic mode.

  9. A welcome bullish take by DAN. HE HAS A POINT, though I do not think, on balance, that MA will risk all our key players chance of injury with us so well set for a title challenge.

    He is above all a realist and knows the Prem title is the one we all want. A cup win would be great, but sadly though realistically, these days it is not considered the BEST trophy.

    I THINK MA will be pragmatic tonight, therefore. Though I would not put MONEY on him leaving out some of our key players.

  10. The first game between these two clubs is very important to win
    It sets a precedent

    Check what I found
    “I remember when we were together here and we scored a lot of goals, always he jumped and celebrated, except against one team. Against one team every time we scored a goal, I jump and when I came back he was just sitting there. It was Arsenal. In that moment I said that guy likes Arsenal.”
    Pep Guardiola

    1. Unlike you Jakes, I think this fixture is a bother that we should get over with. I’d take a loss here (still hope we spank them with our B team) if it means keeping our first team fresh and healthy and ready to spank them at the Emirates.

  11. I’m hoping for a very strong team with perhaps just a couple of changes, Turner in for Ramsdale and hopefully Trossard given a game.

  13. in my opinion, we should rest as many first 11 as poss. We are flying high in the league and CANNOT afford any injuries. Whilst the FA Cup is very dear to us Gooners, we need to go for the bigger prize.

    For all of you who are saying we should field our strongest team – imagine how you’d feel if Partey, Saka, Oodegard or anyone else was to get an injury of any sort that would mean they miss games.

    It’s not worth it. The league is our priority and for the first time in 20 years, we have a VERY SERIOUS chance to win it.

    Give the players on the bench some very much needed game time. Get them up to speed with match fitness and everything else. Don’t take risks.

    1. How do you know we won’t rest Saka or Partey today then he plays next week and gets a season-ending injury? It all comes down to luck.

      1. @QD I strongly disagree! can’t have such a carefree attitude if we want to stay in it! It’s a game of chances bro whoever makes the right choices will survive! Looking at our thin squad I’d rather make the right choice than risk it all for an irrelevant trophy ’cause UCL is our main target.

      2. Yes, it all comes down to luck – but at least we’ll be playing them in the priority games and wrapping them up for those. We have 18 cup finals left to win the league and that MUST be our priority over the FA CUP.
        We all know that next year and beyond, the likes of City, Newcastle, Chelsea and Utd will blow us out of the water spending wise.
        Let’s win the league while we can and leave the FA Cup for other seasons

      3. @QD – how you feeling this morning knowing that Partey has picked up a knock and could now realistically miss games???

  16. Just play our second team. We have FOURTEEN FA cups FFS! We SHOULD let others slug it out with our B team while we focus on ucl and the league. It would be stupid of Arteta to field our starting 11 against a team well known for dark arts and wont hesitate to inflict a few niggles on us (delph on Kane’s ankle in the UCL comes to mind! Accidental? ) Arteta understands our squad. We are short in midfield: Xhaka and TP have no competent covers, we need a striker to help Eddie, Saka needs support ’cause Leo is Gabby’s cover, Keep Ramsdale fit at all costs. Seeing the above, the best solution is to rest what we have as much as possible. So who would play his strongest team in a cup comp that he already won before, against masters of the dark arts, when you have a clear shot at better targets??? I think it’s time for rotation players to prove their worth. No need to risk our season when we shouldnt.

  17. I don’t see any reason to pick our best 11
    We should be targeting PL and Europa…
    We don’t have to concentrate on FA Cup..

    My Line up would be

    Turner

    Tomiyasu Holding Kiwior Tierney

    Lokonga Elneny

    Trossard Viera ESR

    Nketiah

  18. OT: Can we please go slow on Caicedo articles now that we’ve put in a very serious bid? Haha, don’t jinx it guys act like nothing’s happened.

  20. We should go as strong as possible to give ourselves the best chance of getting through to the next round, there is an 8 day break after this game so no need to make wholesale changes, maximum 4-5.

    Turner
    Tomiyasu Saliba Kiwior Tierney
    Partey Xhaka
    Odegaard
    Saka Eddie Trossard

    Bench: Ramsdale White Holding Zinchenko Lokonga Viera Marquinhos Nelson? Martinelli

  21. Everton away is not going to be easy. We lost there last year. That game I felt really cost us the Champions league spot as we played negatively after taking the lead.
    I think the front 4 need a rest. They can be on the bench to be used if necessary. It needs to be a 3-5-2 to protect the defence.

    Turner
    Tomiyassu Holding Tierney
    Marquinhos Elneny Lokonga Xhaka ESR
    Vieira Troussard

    If we get beaten, so what. I feel that we should prioritise the league and EL cup with our squad depth. 1999 was the semi final. We still have several rounds to go to win this FA cup trophy and any one of those teams could beat us.

  22. We have over a week to the next match, so why stop momentum when you can build on it. What happens if during the league matches any of the first eleven has an injury, do we not play the others. Victory or loss against city would prepare us better for the double header against them in the league. Let’s play our strongest side

  23. ESR injured yet again… Hopefully Trossard starts and we can at least give Gabi a rest. Tbh i wouldnt care if we started Marquinhos too to rest Saka. This is a bonus in my mind and if we just walked away with no injuries and put in a good performance thats win in my books. I know thats not the attitude Arteta goes with tho and I expect a decent amount of our starters. partey will be playing for sure since we have literally nobody in that position and we cant be starting Lokonga against City if we want a respectable scoreline at least.

  24. Ideally we rest most firts 11. But our bench is so weak, to field them against City means risking a humiliation which can hurt momentum. So it’s a treaky one for Arteta, he might rest Martinelli, Zilichenko, but not much more.

  25. From football.london
    “And Gunners manager Mikel Arteta is well aware of just how huge Friday night’s fixture is: “Big match, big test for us against in my opinion the best team in the world,” he said in the pre-match press conference. “Looking forward to it because it’s going to tell us a lot about where we are”

  26. I think Turner starts and maybe Tomi, Tierney, and Trossard, the 4t’s. Not full strength but pretty close. Would like to see our new defender and viera get some minutes to.

  27. After this round it will be the last 16. On form there will be 6 non-PL teams left (because that’s the number of ties in the last 32 where there are no PL teams playing, so at least 6 non-PL teams must get through).

    What that means is that future opponents will likely be PL sides, so there won’t be any further opportunity to play a significant number of backup players iin any competition (clubs don’t tend to do that in the latter stages of a competition no matter how unimportant it may seem, the chance to win silverware by playing 4 matches from the last 16 stage is too good to ignore).

    It’s also possible that he doesn’t want to show his tactics to City in the FA Cup…

    So there’s a strong possibility that Arteta will see this as one he doesn’t mind losing to keep people fresh for the EL/PL. But…

    If he goes for a complete B team it opens up the possibility of losing 5-0 or something. That could damage morale so I find it difficult to see how he’s viewing this one.

    All I do know is that City away is not the draw we wanted in the last 32. City v Arsenal on neutral ground would’ve made a great final.

  28. Wow, didn’t know that we had so Hypothetical reasoners?

    Seeing that we are assuming that if we play the first team and could apparently have a mass exodus of injuries from tonight’s game…

    ‘What if…

    We rest them and next weekend against Everton, Partey’s left leg falls off, Odegaard’s ankle clips a Pigeon that was minding its own business and fractures a metatarsal, Ramsdale face hits the turf whilst trying to attempt the Rene Higuita scorpion kick and is out with concussion for 6 weeks and Saka gets a 3 month ban for purposely dropping a Kung Fu flying head but on Sean Dyche’s knees… just hypothetically saying?

    So I say put as much of a stronger team that we can tonight, smash them at their own place and when we get to the back to backs. We have done it once so why can’t we do it again?

    “consistency breeds momentum, momentum breeds confidence, confidence breeds winning and winning breeds champions”

    and if nobody has ever said that… I’m copy writing it.

  29. In my view, the battle tonight is rather a psychological battle rather than physical. Both managers are masters of mind games and there is no doubt in my mind that their main priority is the 2 EPL matches. We have been performing wonderfully this season but let’s be realistic, City away is a tough match and losing there is not going to be a let down even for first 11 as long as we return the favour when they come to the emirate.
    Consider this scenario 1, City rotating their squad while we play our best 11 and we still lose, we can be sure they will bring that momentum to defeat us in the Emirate and we won’t have any ace pull out of sleeves.
    Scenerio 2, if we rotate (a little) and we lose, we can still have the hope of beating them in Emirate as that rotation will serve as a consolation that gives us the boost going into the game. It happened in the EFL Cup. We lost to Brighton heavily but because it was the B team we (the team and the fans) were all unperturbed.

  31. No way. If we played our ‘1st team and it went wrong we would cause ourselves many problems. Besides that there are many players who need games….who really need games. Jakub Kiwior, Leo Trossard, Fabio Viera, Kieran Tierney and some youngsters NEED games. It would be akin to crazy to put our strongest 1st team out……silly.

  32. I think people forgetting that we are playing Man City away not some League one opposition. Some of the lineups being put out above when Man City will field a strong side regardless of team selection, are you trying to see us get battered or something ala 07/08 4-0 against United?🤦🏾‍♂️

  33. Turner
    Tomi,Holding,Gabriel,Tierney
    Lokonga,White,Zinchenko
    Veiria,Nketiah,Trossard.

    In the absence of a like for like replacement for Partey, I would use White as DM with Lokonga and Zinchenko in Box to Box roles.As far as I am concerned the League takes priority over the FA Cup ,at least for this season.Ideally I would have rested Nketiah, but as ESR is injured Arteta may be obliged to play Him or perhaps try Martinelli through the middle?

  34. I just worry about injuries. Don’t think that I would play Partey regardless, would switch out FBs and a CB, would have loved to see ESR try to be Martin but guess he is hurt. Not sure if both Saka and Gabi can rest but I would think about it. I think Eddie is good to go.

  35. In the circumstances the Premier League takes priority. If we put our first 11 out and they lost, it would give a distinct advantage to City in the league games. Also many players need games others need to rest. I’m sure that sense and reasoning will outweigh misjudgment. We can still get a result by giving the time that some of our players can only get through playing

  37. Its better to forego FA Cup for EPL. Keeping in mind our squad depth, it’s better to play less games and this will give a much needed rest to our players.

    Thanks again to our defenders who did not give any chance to Halland despite KDB was in the midfield alongside Illkay Gundagan, Silva etal…

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