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FA Cup a welcome distraction to get some confidence back

preston vs arsenal fa cup 3rd round 2017

Match Preview: Preston North End vs Arsenal - FA Cup - 07.01.2017

The first week of 2017 certainly hasn't arrived quietly for Arsenal, from THAT Giroud goal at home to Palace on New Year's day, to the three goal fightback away to Bournemouth on Tuesday. Before we can even catch our breath we're thrown into the limelight again with a classic FA Cup tie away to Preston North End.

The FA Cup as a competition has lost a large part of its reverence in recent times, however the next few rounds is where the cliché “The magic of the FA Cup” is born and bred. The third round, where the Premier League and Championship teams enter the fray, is an opportunity to throw up some interesting ties and this year the 12 times winners have been drawn against Championship opposition in an away tie to Preston North End.

Preston North End are the original sleeping giant of the lower leagues. Hugely successful in the early years of English football, two times First Division Champions and an equal amount of FA Cups to their name, they are also the original Invincibles.

Times have changed at Deepdale and as alluded to earlier they are no longer at those heights of success and currently are battling mid-table in the Championship. Their manager Simon Grayson has been at the helm for three years now and has Preston playing a direct style of football, with one of their big strikers Simon Makienok or Jordan Hugull being deployed to win the aerial duel with the centre-backs and bring the rest of the team into play with their hold up play.

Preston are not the most inspiring going forward, but are resolute in defence. This gives Wenger an opportunity to put some much needed rotation in our starting line up, but will also require some creative nous in the team in order to unlock that well drilled defence.

The tireless Alexis Sanchez joins Mesut Özil, Petr Cech and Laurent Koscielny in being rested by the manager, so there is space for squad players to make an impression on the manager and make a case for featuring more prominently in the second half of the season. 

With Koscielny missing out, the the door has been opened for Rob Holding to make his eighth appearance of the season. Rob has made a great impression since his transfer from Bolton in the summer, holding a good account of himself with appearances in the Premier League and in the win against Basel. Mustafi is only just back from injury and in need of match fitness but Gabriel probably didn't deserve being relegated to the bench against Bournemouth, so there is a fight to partner Rob Holding in the heart of the defence.

Wenger has a long and fruitful history in the FA Cup and it is expected that he will field an experienced team interlaced with young players in order to balance the expectation of progression with the need to rotate the team. I expect a tight opening few minutes of the game with Arsenal controlling a large part of the possession trying to break down the resolute defence whilst also ensuring we are not caught on the counter and join the list of one of this year's FA Cup upsets. A comfortable win should be on the cards and The Gunners should be safely in the Fourth Round draw come final score on Saturday evening.

UTA!

gabriel and lucas perez

Last 3 Meetings

  • Arsenal 2-1 Preston (12.10.1999)
  • Preston 2-4 Arsenal (04.01.1999)
  • Preston 2-0 Arsenal (30.08.1960)

FACTFILE

  • This will be the first FA Cup meeting between the sides since January 1999, when Arsenal triumphed 4-2 at Deepdale in the third round.
  • In three previous FA Cup meetings at Deepdale, there have been 15 goals between these sides (seven for Preston, eight for Arsenal) at an average of five per game.
  • Preston have won one of their past 15 FA Cup games against top-flight opposition, their last coming in January 2008.
  • The Gunners have a near imperious recent record against lower league opposition in the FA Cup, losing just one of their last 36 ties (1-0 v Blackburn in February 2013).
  • Preston manager Simon Grayson has met Arsenal three times previously in the FA Cup, all while Leeds boss (D1, L2).

Injuries

Kieran Gibbs, Per Mertesacker (both knee), Santi Cazorla (ankle), Walcott (calf), Petr Cech, Laurent Koscienly, Alexis Sanchez (rested), Mesut Özil (flu), Mohammed Elneny (AFCON).

Possible Starting XI

Opsina; Maitland-Niles, Holding, Gabriel, Monreal; Xhaka, Ramsey; Reine-Adelaide, Iwobi, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Perez. 

Goonersphere's Prediction

3-0 to Arsenal

  

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