Wigan may be the underdogs of this game but the pressure is certainly on Arsenal who need to end what will otherwise be 9 years without a major trophy. Almost a decade ago Arsenal won the FA Cup with that famous penalty shoot out with Manchester United, this time however our opponents Wigan Athletic don’t quite boast the same stature, but will be a hard test none the less.

There has been a lot of talk surrounding how the FA Cup was now Arsenal’s focus and that it is something that we just cannot afford to lose now. On that matter, Wigan manager, Uwe Rosler, spoke in an interview with Sky Sports: “We’re going to Wembley and we’re meeting a top team in the Premier League. We are the massive underdog but we have presented ourselves so far in a very, very good way. We’ve made our supporters proud and we’re going to Wembley; we can’t lose, we only can win. Everybody highlighted the fact Arsenal now really have to go for the FA Cup and win the FA Cup. Their own players said that this week and obviously that puts a little bit of extra pressure on Arsenal.”

No matter what people want to say about our current form we still are obviously the biggest team in the competition and on paper we are expected to win not only this upcoming game but the trophy altogether.

However expectation is not everything and an upset can occur, especially against Arsenal. Going into this game, as Rosler states, all the focus is on Arsenal. Wigan go into this game with nothing to lose. They are a good team and we cannot underestimate a Latics side that not only beat Manchester City in the last round but they also won the entire competition under Roberto Martinez last year. They won’t feel the pressure at all, the worry will be with Arsenal and the thoughts of not bottling the chance all over again.

Wojciech Szczsesy stated yesterday that the team is more focused, experienced and more ‘mature’ now, which I don’t doubt for a second in comparison to the final against Birmingham a few years ago. However like I have said before, I think Arsenal were prepared better for that game than they are for this one. Saying that I am expecting the players to buckle up their ideas for this game and give the ‘fighting’ performance we all need to see….

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.