Arsenal v Chelsea: FA Cup Final Preview

With the Premier League season ending in disappointment for Arsenal, despite winning their last five games, they still have a chance of some silverware when they take on Chelsea in the FA Cup Final this evening. It was the first time under Arsene Wenger that they had failed to finish in the top four and they set a Premier League record for the most points of any team finishing fifth. On the surface it looks like things aren't as bad as some would have you believe with that points haul, a cup final today and a blip in their Champions League qualification record.

However that's only scratching the surface of what has happened at Arsenal over the last few years and in this season in particular. The club is being run in a manner which defies belief at times with nobody seemingly responsible for a team which has proven season after season that it just cannot progress under the manager. His influence at the club is so vast that he controls almost every aspect of it and when it all goes wrong the blame has to lay with him.

Of course Stan Kroenke had to take his share of the blame too as his complete lack of ambition as an owner has led to the standards which are so unacceptable. It's no surprise that all of his other sports franchises are in a similar position when it comes to delivering everything except the one thing which seems to matter most to him. If he was to sell his shares in Arsenal he would make an enormous profit, but he seems to have no interest in doing so or in the team actually winning anything either.

The fans of the manager will tell you he has us in our third cup final in four seasons and we have the chance of winning the cup for the third time out of four. They will point to our points haul and tell you how close we came to a top four finish, but that hides so much of the truth. We were told that the club had exited from the tight financial restrictions of the stadium building years, but we have actually become less competitive than we were in those years.

We exited the Champions League at the round of 16 for the seventh season in a row and we suffered an embarrassing record 10-2 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich. Once we hit our first bump in our league campaign we crumbled for months and only recovered when it was too late as we have done so often in the past 10 years. We have reached the FA Cup final, but the luck of the draw played a part with home games against non league clubs in the fifth and sixth rounds.

I don't mean to be all doom and gloom on the day of the cup final, but it's hard to see our season any other way. Our squad is in turmoil ahead of the opening of the transfer window with our two best players going into the last year of their contracts and there is nothing we can do to keep them if they choose to go. Even the manager's contract is up this summer and we still don't know if he will be our manager or not next season.

It's time to look at today's game though and the chance to put some cheer into a season which has delivered so little of it. As an added incentive we have the chance to win the cup for the 13th time which is one more than any other club has won it and we can stop Chelsea from doing the double too. They might have strolled to their league victory, but I still think they're a team who can be made to suffer on their day.

It was only after Arsenal beat them 3-0 that they switched to the formation which won them the league and Arsenal have now adopted that approach too. Antonio Conte has a lot more belief in the formation though and our manager is a lot more likely to switch to a flat back four if things aren't going our way. It's the players who will make up the defensive part of that formation which are causing the most concern for Arsenal ahead of the game. 

It seems Petr Cech has picked up a knock and David Ospina will play in goal which doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Ospina has been our FA Cup and Champions League keeper this season, but Cech's recent form should have made him the choice for today and I can only hope he is actually injured rather than reverting to the ridiculous tactic of playing Ospina in cup games. There is a trophy to play for today and sentiment cannot play any part in the team selection. I would be very surprised if Ospina was at Arsenal next season and playing or not today would hardly be what he bases any decision to leave on.

We have our injury and suspension worries elsewhere too with Laurent Koscielny out after his rash tackle last week got him a red card and he lost his midweek appeal. Gabriel Paulista went off injured in that win against Everton too and he will play no part today either. There are concerns over both Shkodran Mustafi and Kieran Gibbs too and it seems they will both have late tests before the game.

Right now it looks like our central defensive trio will be Rob Holding, Per Mertesacker and Nacho Monreal and that has to be a little worrying up against the piece of scum that is Diego Costa. If Mustafi makes it we will probably see Mertesacker drop out as he has hardly kicked a ball this season through injury. If Gibbs isn't up to it then we could either see Mertesacker back in and Monreal go to left wing back or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain play on that side.

There's a lot of ifs and buts there, but Chamberlain playing on that side would mean Hector Bellerin would play on the right and it would solve one selection problem for the manager. Outside of the defensive unit there aren't too many worries for the manager, but the wing backs ability to make something happen in the attacking part of the pitch is crucial and he needs to get them right. He also needs to make sure they are up to their defensive duties because Chelsea know how to utilise this formation to it's best.

The rest of the team almost picks itself with the only real headache being who plays as the central striker and I would prefer Danny Welbeck over Olivier Giroud because he offers the pace which can hurt Chelsea. Giroud has proved to be a real asset off the bench so many times this season and he might just be needed in that role today. Despite the perception that we struggle to score goals we have already managed 119 goals this season and that's more than any other season under Wenger.

I don't want Alexis Sanchez to leave this summer, but if he wants out there's little we can do to stop him. If he is to leave surely it would be fitting if he helped us to a trophy in his last game and he's the player most likely to cause Chelsea problems. I have a feeling he will get on the scoresheet today and I just hope it's the goal that makes the difference.

We're going to need the referee to be strong to keep up with the antics we know we will get from Costa and it's about time the officials actually caught up with him during a game. Granit Xhaka has to curb his urge to kick anything that goes past him and both him and Aaron Ramsey have to form a shield for what could be a makeshift defence. If everybody does their job from first minute to last we can win the game, but we will have to do just that. I'm not exactly optimistic about the game, but somehow or other I can't see Chelsea with the trophy and I just hope I'm right.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

We're The Famous Arsenal And We're Going To Wembley

I have no problem admitting when I'm wrong and I got a few things wrong in my preview of Arsenal's FA Cup semi final with City. Firstly I questioned the mental strength of the team and they proved that they do have some of it by coming from behind to win 2-1 in extra time. I also questioned the three (or five) at the back formation, but it looked a lot better against City than it did in the second half in particular against Boro.

We may have had to defend in depth and in numbers too and we may have rode our luck more than a little at times, but I thought we just about deserved the victory. City can complain all they like about some questionable decisions by the referee, but all of the decisions didn't go in our favour and I didn't hear them complaining when they beat us 2-1 earlier in the season thanks to two offside goals. That game was one of those that destroyed our confidence and started the rot which has seen us fall so badly away in the race for the top four.

Our chances of a top four finish took a turn for the better yesterday though when Liverpool lost at home to Palace to leave us thinking we have a slight chance of making next season's Champions League. We have eight games left this season and if we win them all we will finish in the top four and lift the FA Cup too which means it's not all exactly doom and gloom. We can't get our hopes too high though because there are some very tough games in there and we're still a long way from a good team far too often.

All of our problems haven't suddenly gone away overnight thanks to a win over City, but there are definite signs of improvement. Rob Holding has taken his chance with both hands and he has to be pushing to keep his place in the team when Shkodran Mustafi returns from injury. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had another very good game against City and it appears playing as a wing back might just suit him.

I still think we need to be more mobile up front if we're going to play three central defenders and Olivier Giroud doesn't exactly possess the pace to hit teams on the break. Surely playing Alexis Sanchez in the central striking role makes more sense as it's where he can have the maximum impact. I understand the thinking behind Giroud at centre forward with the formation we're playing, but we still don't get the crosses into the box to suit his needs. When Chamberlain or Nacho Monreal get into a good position they're far more likely to pull the ball back for somebody to run onto.

I wasn't so sure of Aaron Ramsey playing alongside Granit Xhaka and I thought Mohamed Elneny would be a better option, but Ramsey looked like he might be growing into the role against City. I also mentioned that City are the team most like us in terms of their ability to mess things up for themselves and all they have left to play for now is a top four place and next season's Champions League. If we're going to make it ourselves we need to overhaul two of City, Liverpool and United before the season ends.

That quest starts at home to Leicester on Wednesday night and continues at Spurs on Sunday and we quite simply have to win both games. Leicester will be no pushover after their recent upturn and the thought of ending Spurs hopes of winning the league on Sunday has to be one the players should be looking forward to. They showed a real vulnerability in losing their cup semi final 4-2 to Chelsea on Saturday and we need to find a way to take advantage of that vulnerability.

For the moment though we can wallow in the glory of our victory and the knowledge of a trip to Wembley for the Cup Final to come on Saturday May 27. Tickets won't be quite so easy to access as they were for the semi final and I have no doubt plenty of those who decided not to go to the semi final will grab the chance to go to the final. We have the chance to set a couple of records that day and hopefully we can do just that.

No matter where we go from here though I still think it's time for Arsene Wenger to go and that won't change even if we win the cup and finish in the top four. Scraping through by the skin of our teeth isn't enough any more and we need to be putting in a genuine challenge. I just can't see that happening under him any more and for me that means it's time for change. Sadly I think winning our way to the cup final will probably be what tips the scales in his favour when it comes to signing a new contract regardless of whether we finish in the top four or not.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Can Arsenal Show Their "Mental Strength" Against City

Time and again we are told of the mental strength the Arsenal players possess when they manage to overcome a hurdle and take a point or even three from a game. Of course every team faces setbacks no matter how good they are and their mental strength is shown in their reactions to those setbacks. Arsene Wenger is very fond of telling us of his players' mental strength, but I just cannot see it.

A team with mental strength simply could not be as brittle as Arsenal every time they concede a goal. All it takes is for the opposition to score against them and the whole team as a unit become almost visibly afraid. We are almost as vulnerable when we have conceded as when we score and it happens in game after game.

When we suffer a bad defeat or a surprise defeat to a so called lesser team it can take weeks for the players to even approach the level expected from a team who should be challenging for trophies. Since we lost at home to Watford in January we have spiralled from one crisis to another with the odd unconvincing victory thrown in to avert a full blown collapse. From a position where we were in the last 16 of the Champions League and challenging for at least second place in the league we are now faced with the FA Cup as our only route to success.

To make matters worse for Arsenal it's Spurs who have gone a great run and put the sort of pressure on Chelsea that has made them stumble. It's a sad day for an Arsenal fan when you are happy to see Chelsea win an FA Cup semi final because the alternative was so impalitable. If Arsenal were to somehow manage to beat City today I would have had very little confidence in their ability to beat Spurs if they had reached the final despite Spurs terrible record at Wembley this season.

The FA Cup draw has been very kind to us so far to say the least, but that ends today when we play a City team who have fared only slightly better than us so far this season. Their only chance of a trophy this season is the FA Cup too, but they are far more likely than us to at least qualify for the Champions League. Their mental strength has been called into question too this season, but their manager will be cut a little more slack as it's his first season in the job.

Our manager seems to think he can redeem the season and get the fans back onboard if he can deliver his third FA Cup in four seasons and seventh in his almost 21 years at the club. If he was somehow to scrape into fourth place and win the FA Cup that might be the case with some fans, but I believe the vast majority believe at this stage that the club needs to move on and part ways with him. I still don't want to see him get the bullet, but if he can't see the writing on the wall then that might be the only option.

I'm not laying all the blame for our woes at his door of course and we all know how unfit for purpose the upper echelons of the club are too. We have a majority shareholder who doesn't seem interested in the footballing side progressing as long as his investment continues to gain value and all those in between him and the manager are almost invisible in their inaction. We have at least spent some money in the last few years, but the players needed to advance the squad never arrived and the only change that we can have any chance of achieving is in the management.

Our manager seems to have fallen so far behind the tactics and football needed to win in the game as it is that he cannot be allowed to continue in the job. Opponents do their homework and prepare for us so they know how to combat us as well as how to put pressure on us in the places where we can't handle it. We have been completely out thought by both Tony Pulis and Sam Allardyce in recent weeks and they are hardly master tacticians. 

Not only do our opponents know exactly how to combat us, but the reverse just isn't true. It's as if the players haven't been briefed on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition before every game and that can only come down to one person. If they have been briefed then it hasn't been done correctly and if they haven't then it's incredibly arrogant to think all that matters is what we do with the ball and not what the opposition do.

The players have some responsibility to bear too of course and too many of them have gone missing when they were needed most. Our injuries have been better than they have been for a long time this season, but the same old failings still come through game after game. It's not a personell issue because it happens no matter what team plays which leads us back to the leadership which just isn't right on and off the pitch.

I still want Arsenal to win every single game they play and I would be as delighted as the next fan if we win the Cup and finish in the top four, but it won't change my opinion on the manager. Even if we do manage to somehow make them both happen I think he should see that as the ideal way to sign off on a high and give the club a chance to move on to a new era. Everything comes to an end and it would at least be a good thing to end his reign on a high rather than the low which we seem to be crashing and burning towards.

As for the team today, I think he has to play the strongest team possible despite having a league game against Leicester on Wednesday night. I think that should mean a midfield pairing of Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny which gives a much more stable basis to build on than having Aaron Ramsey in the team. I also think Alexis Sanchez has to go back to the central strikers role and we need players who can hit City with pace on the break which means there should be no place in the team for Olivier Giroud.

I don't think the experiment with three (or five) at the back at Boro was any better than we have seen in other games and we were still just as vulnerable as ever once they equalised. They are heading for relegation and can't score a goal for love or money, but we had to ride our luck when the game was at 1-1. A win is a win though and a defeat in that game would have left us in absolute turmoil before going into today's semi final.

We are capable of beating City even if we were more than a little lucky to draw 2-2 at home to them a few weeks ago. The players are well used to the Wembley surface and atmosphere as they have played there so often in recent seasons and there is some hope of a Cup Final to look forward to. Maybe the players will finally show their mental strength, but I won't be holding my breath.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Lincoln City Preview

It's been a tough old time for us Arsenal fans recently with five defeats in our last seven games in all competitions as the wheels seem to be coming off our season yet again. We exited the Champions League in the round of 16 for the seventh season in a row and we have absolutely no hope of winning the Premier League yet again this season. It's all too depressingly familiar and it's exactiy what those who doubt Arsene Wenger predicted.

Even the two games we won in that run were far from convincing with a particularly lucky 2-0 win at home to Hull in the league and a totally uninspiring 2-0 win away to non league Sutton United in the fifth round of the FA Cup. The defeats to the rest of the top six continue unabated and we were destroyed 10-2 on aggregate by Bayern Munich in the Champions League. It looks like it couldn't get much worse and yet the manager can't make a decision on where his future lies.

Of course there are those who might say things aren't as bad as doomsayers would seem to make out and the 15 teams below us in the league would gladly swap places with us. We're in the last eight of the FA Cup and there's still a good chance we will win it for third time in four seasons. As it stands both City and Leicester are still in the Champions League, but both of them could go out next week and end all Premier League participation for another season.

I suppose it's all about perspective and expectations and I find myself firmly in the "we have underperformed yet again" corner. We might still turn things around and finish in the top four as well as winning the cup, but the all too predictable collapse just cannot be ignored. I'm not saying we have the right to win trophies, but surely we have to be able to compete for the top trophies and that means the Premier League and Champions League.

I think an announcement from the manager of his intention to leave at the end of the season might just galvanise the team and get the players and fans behind him as we try to at least finish his final season on some sort of high. I'm not so sure it's going to happen though and I think he is still leaning towards taking up the new contract on offer and hoping for a strong finish to strengthen his hand. Either way a strong finish to the season is what's needed and the first step to recovery has to be a cup quarter final victory against Lincoln.

We couldn't have asked for a kinder draw than a game at home to a non league team even if they are going very well in the top league outside the football league. They won away to a Burnley team who have an excellent record at home in the Premier League in the last round and they will hope to take advantage of our current ails. If we don't approach this game in the right way we could be on the end of the greatest FA Cup upset of all time.

I think we have to go with the strongest team possible and try to put the game to bed as soon as possible. With the greatest respect to Lincoln we should be winning this game by five or six goals and even with our current troubles we are so much better than them. We have scored 90 goals already in all competitions this season and we should be an awful lot closer to 100 after this game.

Of course we've been so bad recently that we're probably far more likely to struggle to a two goal win and survive a few scares during the game. The performance in the first half on Tuesday was very encouraging and showed this team can still play some good football as well as give everything they have, but the second half collapse showed all that is wrong with the players and tactically too.

I want to see more of that first half from here to the end of the season and make it more about the football and not the manager. Surely we have to turn things around at some stage and what better way to start than by getting within one game of yet another FA Cup final. There's still a chance of some silverware this season and we have to at least give ourselves a chance of maintaining the excitement in our season other than the annual fight for the "fourth place trophy".

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal's FA Cup Game At Sutton Previewed

Arsenal play away to Sutton United tonight in the last 16 of the FA Cup with their path to the semi finals clearly laid out for them. They play a non league team tonight and the reward for the winner is a quarter final game at home to the other non league team left in the competition. With the greatest of respect to both Sutton and Lincoln we could not have asked for an easier draw. 

First of all we play against a Sutton team tonight who have looked very good so far and will have home advantage on their artificial surface. Those two elements will of course be in their favour, but we are still huge favourites to advance to the next round without the need for a replay. As bad as we might have been recently it would take an even worse performance than the one in Munich for Sutton to have any hope tonight. 

Not only have Arsenal had almost a week to recover from the mauling in Munich, but they don't play next weekend thanks to the EFL Cup final between Southampton and United. There will be no need to rest players for bigger games tonight because the FA Cup is our only realistic chance of a trophy just like it has been at this stage of the last three seasons too. We managed to win two of them and no other team has won more FA Cups than Arsenal while no other manager has won it more times than Arsene Wenger.

If this is going to be his last season at the club (no one really knows the answer to that) then maybe it would be in some way fitting if he could end it with a trophy. The FA Cup isn't the Holy Grail of the Premier League or the Champions League, but it's certainly better than no trophy at all. If he could leave as the record winner of the trophy as both a club and a manager it wouldn't be the worst way for him to finish. 

We will have to overcome Sutton first though and even with no game next weekend I think we will see a few changes. To be honest the team which capitulated in Munich needs to be changed and there are a few players who could look to make an impact on a rare outing. It's a no win situation for Arsenal though with everyone bar the Arsenal faithful hoping for an upset and even a few of them would like to see it if it hastened the departure of the manager.

I'm not in that camp though and I will always want Arsenal to win. I'm hoping for a display to show they have put Munich behind them, but to be honest any win will do all things considered. I have no doubt Sutton will put it up to them and try to put them off their game, but I also have no doubt that we are vastly superior to them.

If Sutton were to win tonight it would be one of the biggest shocks ever in the FA Cup. Arsenal are royalty when it comes to this competition and they cannot allow themselves to succumb to the commoners tonight. As bad as the defeat in Munich might have been a defeat tonight would open the gates of hell and the repercussions would last for a very long time.

I think those players will bounce back tonight and a win would put them on the road to recovery too. There's still a top four place to play for and an attempt to regain some respect in the second leg against Bayern. If we are going to have any hope of doing either of those things we need to start out on the road tonight.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal's FA Cup Fourth Round Game At Southampton Previewed

Arsenal face a trip to Southampton this evening in the fourth round of the FA Cup and despite it only being January the cup might just be their best chance of a trophy. They're second in the league right now and through to the last 16 of the Champions League too, but recent history has taught us some valuable lessons about getting our hopes up in either of those competitions. Mind you we're living in a world where History lessons appear to be forgotten and maybe we should all believe Arsenal are headed for the ultimate double.

The prospect of facing Bayern Munich in the last 16 of the Champions League is one which should fill us with nervous trepidation though and the thoughts of needing plenty of points off the rest of the top six in the league in our final 16 games should make us fearful too. I'm not trying to be a merchant of doom and I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but it's hard not to believe the FA Cup has to be our best chance of a trophy.

We are the joint record winners of the trophy after United won it in May to join us on 12 victories in the final and we won it the two seasons previous to them. Arsene Wenger has also won the trophy six times and that can only be matched by one other manager in history. The reasons for us to win the cup are there for all to see, but we might need to put out a pretty strong team today just to have a chance of getting through to the next round.

Southampton have already knocked us out of the EFL Cup this season and they're now through to the final where they will face United. To do so they had to put Liverpool out in the semi final on Wednesday night and they went up there and won 1-0 on the night for a 2-0 aggregate victory. Maybe our chances today will be improved by them having to put so much into that game and the euphoria their players will probably have felt after their victory.

St. Mary's hasn't been a happy hunting ground for Arsenal recently and we have actually struggled against Southampton both home and away. The 4-0 defeat down there in the league last season was a low point and all too often we have struggled to score against them. If we're going to progress we're going to have to strike a fine balance between first choice players and those who might not be.

The obvious absentee is Granit Xhaka who is serving a four match ban after his red card in the fairly humdrum win against Burnley last week. The events of that game will also see Arsene Wenger serve a four game touch line ban which should see Steve Bould directing things from the sideline today. To be honest the boss isn't the most vocal from the bench and he usually spends most of his time struggling with the zip on his jacket if we are to believe his detractors.

For me the obvious players to come in will be David Ospina, Kieran Gibbs, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lucas Perez and Danny Welbeck and I don't see too much change after them. If he's really going for it we can expect to see Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud start, but I suspect they will be saved for Tuesday night's league game at home Watford. They have been on a really poor run recently and their need for points will mean they will make it a real battle.

Maybe Hector Bellerin will start too as he only got a few minutes off the bench against Burnley after returning from injury and he has to be a certainty for Tuesday night. If we can beat Watford and Chelsea don't win away to Liverpool we might just see some light before we go to Chelsea next weekend. That game could make or break our season and we need to go into it in the best position possible.

I sincerely hope we're still up there by the week after that as I will be at the game at home to Hull. The difference in atmosphere on the day will be huge if we're breathing down Chelsea's neck rather than ruling ourselves out of the title race in early February. It will be my only trip to the Emirates this season and it's something I'm really looking forward to.

I think today's game will be very close and we might have to bring the likes of Alexis, Ozil and Giroud off the bench to seal the deal or get us back in the game. A draw wouldn't be the worst result, but it would mean a replay to cope with and Bayern just around the corner too. It's better than going out though and I would take it right now if it was on offer.

When things start to get hectic again for Arsenal we have to remember that both Chelsea and Liverpool don't have European football to worry about due to their ineptitude last season. They've both still in the FA Cup, but a replay for us would certainly complicate our schedule. Having said that I still wouldn't be adverse to coming away with a draw today all things considered.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal's FA Cup Trip To Preston Previewed

It's FA Cup action today for Arsenal with a trip to Preston in the evening game live on TV. The midweek 3-3 draw at Bournemouth is still fresh in our minds and to be honest it's not easy to put a game like that behind you. You can look at it two ways as either a point gained after trailing 3-0 or two points dropped against a team we really should have beaten on paper at least.

The first 65 minutes from Arsenal was abysmal and we were probably lucky to be only three goals down at that stage, but the comeback was great and the point could prove to be important at the end of the season. As I said before the game Bournemouth are no pushovers, but we did nothing to take advantage of their defensive frailties until we were three down. They were the ones to take advantage of our defensive problems with Arsenal handing them the first two goals on a plate.

Hector Bellerin went AWOL for the first goal, but he wasn't helped by Aaron Ramsey not wanting to do the defensive part of the game either. Bellerin managed to get back though and then he was beaten far too easily as was Petr Cech for that goal and the third one too. In fact Cech didn't cover himself in glory for his attempts to save the penalty either as has been the way with the many penalties Arsenal have conceded this season.

I was a little worried when we signed Cech that his best days were behind him and I'm even more worried now. David Ospina will get a chance in the FA Cup today and it might just be time for Ospina to make the goalkeeper's shirt his own. His shot stopping is vastly superior to Cech's for me at the moment, but I do worry about his abilities on crosses.

The second goal Bournemouth scored was almost worse from Arsenal with Granit Xhaka inexplicably pushing their player over in the box when there was no real danger. He had done well to get back after Arsenal lost possession outside the Bournemouth area, but it's impossible to understand why he pushed the player over. I was delighted when we signed Xhaka and he can be very good most of the time, but it looks like he lacks a football brain. His ability to make stupid decisions is next to none and he has to work harder to cut those stupid mistakes out of his game.

If the foul by Xhaka was a penalty then the push on Bellerin which led to the third goal was a free to Arsenal without a doubt, but the referee didn't give it and again Cech didn't cover himself in glory.

I may have gone into that game a little too much considering it was four days ago, but as I said it's a tough one to get out of my head. We should have won, could have lost and ended up with an unlikely point in true Arsenal style. That point dropped us to fifth in the league, but we actually closed the gap to Chelsea at the top to a mere eight points.

The question is are we truly chasing Chelsea or is our actual goal to finish in the top four yet again. It's going to be a very tight finish with six teams battling it out for those four places and any two teams could miss out. I really can't see us winning the league considering our awful form against the rest of the top six for many years now and our ability to implode just when it matters most.

With all that in mind the FA Cup becomes a little more important because the league is such a stretch and the Champions League is definitely beyond us. We were knocked out at home to Watford last season at a time when our league challenge was imploding, but we won the trophy in the previous two seasons. No team has won more FA Cups than Arsenal and no manager has won more than Arsene Wenger. 

I have no doubt Preston will give us a tough test today and try to take advantage of any defensive slips that we are so fond of at the moment. Even with our current injury problems and Alexis Sanchez having a much needed rest we should still be too good for a team who sit in the middle of the table a league below us. I'm not taking Preston for granted, but once Arsenal don't either I think they will win.

Hopefully they can advance to the next round and put the cup aside for a while so they can concentrate on the league. They have three games coming up that they should and most definitely have to win before a trip to Chelsea early next month. Nine points from those games is a must and with so many of the teams around us playing each other we will move up the table if we win those three games.

If we can go to Chelsea in good form and with most of our injured players back then maybe a performance like the one in the 3-0 win at home to them earlier this season might just be what we need, but it's a huge ask from players who have failed when the chips are down time after time.

I'm still of the belief that last season was our chance to win the league with all the other big clubs failing at once, but we blew it despite leading in early January. We are the only team in the current top six to have less points than this time last season and some of them have an awful lot more points. If we couldn't win it when they all fell by the wayside then what chance do we really have this season with all of them performing so much better.

I'll leave you on that depressing note with the Preston game up shortly and the hopes of a 13th FA Cup win for the club getting under way for this season. I think the boss will play the strongest team he has with the exception of Alexis as he knows this could very quickly be our only route to a trophy this season. Let's hope we beat them and the players and manager can change enough to improve our fortunes from here on in.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.