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Photo from Freepik.
Morning all.
The FA Cup third round draw took place last night with an away trip to Portsmouth coming out of the pot for Mikel Arteta’s team. The match is due to take place sometime over the weekend of the 10th January. Bearing in mind we play Liverpool on the 8th, I imagine the FA Cup tie will be played on the 11th or 12th.
The last time we faced Pompey in this competition was back in March 2020, the year of Arsenal’s last time of lifting a trophy. The Championship club are having a rotten season so far with relegation to League One looking possibly unless they turn things around in the second half of the season.
There are no replays this season so it’s extra-time and penalties should the game end up being a draw. Good, but I hope Arteta’s team can get the job done in 90 minutes.
Four all Premier League ties were drawn with Villa travelling to Totts, Everton facing Sunderland, Newcastle taking on Bournemouth and Brighton travelling to Manchester United.
Tomorrow night we face Club Brugge who are well away from securing a place in the Champions League playoffs let alone the top eight but in this league format, a couple of wins could soon see them catapult up the table. Arsenal on the other hand are flying high at the top of the table, just one point away from the 16 won last season which secured a knockout place. We’re close to progressing through to the next round but we’re not quite there yet. A win tomorrow night could change that though, especially if other results go in our favour.
Then it’s back home for an 8pm kickoff on Saturday night against Wolves. The West Midlands club were battered 4-1 by Manchester United last night, mind you, Wolves haven’t won a game this season.
Shock, horror, the players will have a whole week off after the Wolves game. A rare thing this season. We’ll hear from Mikel Arteta at some stage about who is and isn’t fit for tomorrow’s game but like many Arsenal fans I’m sure, I’m hoping to see Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly, Gyokeres, Norgaard, Eze, Madueke, Salmon, Dowman, Annous and Kepa on the pitch. If not at the beginning, the end.
Whilst not suggesting tomorrow’s game is a forgone conclusion or that it’s going to be easy but it’s an opportunity to rotate and rest a few players who have been playing a lot of minutes over the last two weeks.
Whether Arteta feels the same I’ve no idea but logic suggests he should.
Catch up in the comments.