Arsenal struggled to beat Leicester on Tuesday but now have five days to recover and prepare for the visit of Middlesbrough on Sunday. It would appear that retaining the FA Cup is Arsenal’s best (and probably only) chance of winning a trophy this season, but Theo Walcott is warning the Arsenal fans to expect another tough fight from a team that is flying in the Championship.
In fact Boro are on a ten game unbeaten run right now, winning the last six – including the 2-0 win over Man City at the Etihad which is a warning to Arsenal if ever there was one. Going further back Boro have only lost twice in 28 games!
Walcott made it clear that Arsenal have a great chance to retain the Cup, but does not expect it to be easy at all. “It is a great opportunity when you consider the teams that have gone out of the competition,” Theo said on the official Arsenal website. “But Middlesbrough will be tough, they are doing well in the Championship and they might be very similar to Leicester.
“They will be a threat, we can’t take them for granted. We need to study their game very closely because if they watched our game here they will fancy playing us. We have to make sure we are completely on it because it will be nice for the fans to have a Wembley trip again.”
Boro are currently top in the Championship, so technically they are only one place behind Leicester in the standings! But the difference in the confidence between the two teams is massive. Arsenal must be careful, very careful!