Arsenal are involved in one of three all Premier League ties today as they face Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium in the FA Cup. The FA Cup is a competition in which Arsenal have enjoyed great success over the years. The Gunners were first victorious in the prestigious cup competition in 1930, and have added a further nine titles since then. Current boss Arsene Wenger has been in the hot seat for four of Arsenal’s ten FA Cup victories, and will undoubtedly be striving to continue his fine record in the tournament when his side visit Stoke today.

Wenger will be without a host of first teamers today as he aims to direct his side toward their eleventh FA Cup crown. The Frenchman faces two fresh injury concerns, with fullback Bacary Sagna (who has been nursing a shoulder injury for several games) being given a well-needed break and Abou Diaby suffering from a calf complaint. Joining them on the sidelines are Robin Van Persie, Kieran Gibbs, Johan Djourou, Nicklas Bendtner, Aaron Ramsey, Fran Merida and Samir Nasri. Emmanuel Eboue and Alex Song are at the African Cup of Nations.

Jack Wilshere has returned to fitness and it looks as though he may start, while Wenger may opt for a more second-string lineup in order to give some of the established first teamers a valuable rest. That may tip the pre-match odds closer to being in Stoke’s favour, however with so many crucial games coming up in the next fortnight it is important that the squad are at top fitness if we want to challenge for the League title. I’m thinking we’ll see a whole host of youngsters scattered throughout tonight’s team sheet, with the lineup looking something like this:

Wilshere – Vela – Walcott
Emmanuel-Thomas – Denilson – Eastmond
Traore – Silvestre – Campbell – Coquelin
Fabianski

BENCH: Mannone, Vermaelen, Bartley, Clichy, Rosicky, Eduardo, Sunu.

There are, of course, a real number of changes that could be made to that line-up. Any of the youngsters in that team sheet could be replaced by more capable and experienced players, however it is extremely likely that Arsene will look to his wonderkids in order to give the first teamers a rest. The only likely changed to that lineup would be if Kyle Bartley is preferred to Sol Campbell in the centre of defence, depending on the latter’s match fitness.

Today’s game will no doubt be an extremely difficult test. We should be going out there to win, as a replay would almost be as bad as a loss. It is imperative at this stage that we play as few games as possible in order to avoid fixture congestion, making sure that we stay in contention for every possible title. Stoke boss Tony Pulis has an astoundingly full-strength squad, and his players will be fancying their chances now that they are likely to face a depleted Arsenal side.

All we can do is hope that the youngsters come through with the goods and fire us into the fifth round with as little hassle and injuries as possible. I don’t like our chances, but today’s game provides some of Arsene’s newest batch of stars the chance to step up and make a name for themselves. Just get the win please boys, maybe Arsene will buy you all a Happy Meal after the game.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 2:38 AM and is filed under Arsenal, FA Cup, Match Previews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.