All the pundits and -experts- have written Arsenal off in today’s Caraboa Cup Final against Man City, but they did in last years FA cup semi-final against City and also in the Final against Chelsea, so the label of underdog doesn’t worry the Arsenal players in the slightest.
A cup Final is down to the performance on the day, and Arsenal have got great experience of preparing perfectly for the occasion, having won their last 9 Cup games played at Wembley. Our new super-striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has assured the fans that the Gunners are
‘This is a cup final, a one-off, so form doesn’t matter. We just have to focus and kill it,’ Aubameyang said. ‘It’s been a while since I won something so I would love to change that.
‘Everyone wants to finish their career and have stories of winning trophies and I’m no different.
‘People think Arsenal is a club that doesn’t have an attitude to win, but they should come and check our dressing room. The guys really want this. Very much.’
Being confident is half the battle when it comes to big games like this, and Shkrodan Mustafi thinks we just have to play our game like we did in last year’s match-up at Wembley. “It will be a very tactical game because they are well organised and dangerous up front,” he said. “They have shown their quality all season in the Premier League.
“We need to make sure that we are compact, organised and concentrated for 90 minutes, and extra time if required. We have to play our own game when we get the ball and play as quickly as we can to find opportunity to break them down.
“Finals are always exciting and tense games. We hope that we will be the better team but we will see on the day. It’s all on the day. We had a good result against them last season in the FA Cup semi-final. We just need to show that level of performance again.”
And we will! City know we beat them last year, and the Arsenal players also know that City are beatable in Cup games (Hi, Wigan!) so we have no reason not to start on equal footing. May the best team in red win!
COYG!!!
Sam P