Arsenal kick off their FA Cup campaign on Saturday when they host fellow Premier League side Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium. Arsene Wenger and his men won this competitions for two consecutive seasons and will be looking to clinch it for the third time in a row. The Gunners are unbeaten in their last seven matches against Sunderland, with five wins and two goalless draws, both at home. The Black Cats last beat Arsenal in the most recent FA Cup clash between the two sides, during the 2011-2012 season. The two sides have met last month at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League, Arsenal won 3-1.
Arsene Wenger has won the FA Cup six times, while Arsenal have won it for a record 12 times. No team has won it three times in a row since Blackburn Rovers between 1884 and 1886. No, that's not a mistake, we're talking about the 19th century! But until winning it they have to get past the third round. Arsenal are on an impressive 12-match winning streak in this competition and have never been beaten in the third round under Arsene Wenger. They are in good shape at the moment, leading the Premier League table with six wins out of their last seven games. Alexis Sanchez is in line for a return but not as soon as this weekend, but Mikel Arteta could well be involved as a substitute.
Last weekend struggling Sunderland clinched a vital win over fellow relegation contenders Aston Villa, ending a poor run of five consecutive defeats. Sam Allardyce might choose to focus entirely on the Premier League survival battle, but a good FA Cup run should definitely please the fans. Two seasons ago the Black Cats have reached the last eight in the FA Cup and the final of the League Cup, even though they were fighting for survival back then as well. Younes Kaboul is still out of contention, along with Sebastian Larsson and Jack Rodwell.
Probable line-ups:
Arsenal: Ospina - Bellerin, Chambers, Gabriel, Gibbs - Flamini, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Campbell - Walcott
Sunderland: Pantilimon - Yedlin, O'Shea, Coates, Van Aanholt - Cattermole, M'Vila, Watmore, Toivonen, Borini - Graham
My prediction: Arsenal to win 3-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Arsenal win - 1.29 Draw - 6.50 Sunderland win - 11.00
Shumar4life
8 years ago
Arsenal showed that they are in good form, and I believe that they finally have capacity to fight for all of trophies. Sunderland managed to score first goal, but it was obvious that they don't have a quality to beat Arsenal at this moment. They need to focus themselves on relegation battle in Premier league
Please enter your comment.
Your comment is added.
Tom Lucas 8 years ago
It actually was a really good game. Sunderland even gave first goal. They did not have enough strenght to play the whole game with really good Arsenal. In some funny sort a way, Arsenal actually did Sunderland a favor by knocking them from FA Cup. Now they can start trying to escape relegation from Premiere Leagur.
Please enter your comment.
Your comment is added.
sharpe
8 years ago
Arsenal could make a good favor to Sunderland if they knock them out of the FA Cup. Cup run could be a great thing but main target for Sunderland have to be PL survival. I know that team lead by Sam Allardyce will never just goes trough a game without motivation but I really think it will be a better for them to be focused...
Arsenal could make a good favor to Sunderland if they knock them out of the FA Cup. Cup run could be a great thing but main target for Sunderland have to be PL survival. I know that team lead by Sam Allardyce will never just goes trough a game without motivation but I really think it will be a better for them to be focused entirely on the Premier League. I think it would be a good thing for Arsenal too by the way: ) Don't know about that one, everything could happen I think.
Show morePlease enter your comment.
Your comment is added.