Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal players should be full of confidence going into the FA cup quarter final against Watford tomorrow. Not only did the Gunners hit four unanswered goals past Hull City on Tuesday to confirm the upturn in form begun with a battling 10 man draw against the spuds, but we also recorded a healthy 3-0 win away to the Hornets in October.
Quique Sanchez Flores and his team were on a great run of form back then as well, so Arsenal should have every reason to believe that we will get the job done tomorrow and be set for a third FA cup semi final in a row. Maybe not though, and the last thing that Wenger wants is for the Arsenal players to be too confident.
For one thing, that 3-0 scoreline at Vicarage Road did not tell the whole story because we did not open the scoring until after the hour mark. Up until then it was pretty even and both side had good chances. Our opener came on the counter attack and 12 minutes later we had two more but we should take fair warning from their performance that day.
Our manager certainly has because in preparation for the cup match he has pointed out their strong defensive qualities and their danger on the break, as an Arsenal.com report explains. The Frenchman certainly seems to think he knows what shape the game will take and that will be okay as long as we take our chances or do not become too impatient and leave ourselves exposed at the back.
He said, “They have two strikers who are very efficient in Ighalo and Deeney and we worked very hard to control the game [last time we played them].
“They have a very good understanding between their strikers and the quality between our two centre backs will be vital on Sunday.
“Watford have done extremely well. It looks like the Championship teams that come up now deal very well with the Premier League regime.
“The difficulty [for us] is that Watford have a team who are very solid defensively. They are also a team who are athletically very strong and the basis of their game is on efficiency and waiting for the right moment to be very dangerous.”
So while it is nice to have beaten them 3-0, is it just as important to remember that no other team has put three past them all season?