FA Cup top of Wenger agenda, at least for now

Arsenal set to face Watford in quarter-final

Thursday, 10th March 2016 — By Steve Barnett

ARSENE Wenger made it clear this week that when it comes to the FA Cup, he’s the daddy. The Frenchman was quizzed about just what the prestigious competition meant to him ahead of Sunday’s sixth-round tie against Watford. Without missing a heartbeat the Arsenal boss seized on the question to remind everyone that his side is trying to win the oldest club competition in the world for a third successive season. “Do you know somebody that has won the FA Cup more than me?” said Wenger, who has lifted the trophy six times since arriving in English football. “That gives you your answer.” Wenger saw his side ease to a 4-0 victory at Hull on Tuesday to move to within one win of a return to Wembley. The result means Arsenal’s scheduled Premier League game against West Brom on Saturday was postponed and replaced by Sunday’s cup showdown against Watford. Wenger showed little surprise when he responded to the fact that his charges were now playing 24 hours later despite having a mammoth match away at Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday, in which the Gunners will be looking to somehow overturn a 2-0 defeat from the first-leg. “I would have loved to have played on Saturday but we don’t influence the schedule and we do not get any favours so everybody will be happy in England,” he said. “We sell football and we give it to the media to dictate the timing because we take the money so I won’t complain at all. “Right now we’re not thinking about Barcelona. What matters in football is the next game and the next game is Watford on Sunday afternoon.” Meanwhile Theo Walcott has admitted that following a run of bad results the Arsenal players held a private meeting in a bid to get their season back on track. The get-together was organised by senior players Petr Cech, Per Mertesacker, Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky, and Walcott says it was just what was needed. “We are not going to lie – we know as a unit it has been tough and we all had a good chat among us behind closed doors, without any of the coaches or the manager knowing about anything. “It was a meeting to express how everyone was feeling basically and it worked. The manager probably knows about it anyway – he’s got ears everywhere at the club.”

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