Wenger bullish on Cup hopes

ARSENAL boss Arsene Wenger declared that his side can win the FA Cup the hard way again – even though he is set to rest key players in a quarter-final clash against Chelsea.

Arsenal overcame Liverpool, Newcastle and Middlesbrough en route to defeating Chelsea in last season’s final. This time around, they may have started off gently against Oxford and Farnborough but have just had to defeat Manchester United away.

Even after then being drawn at home to Chelsea, Wenger remarked that “it cannot be much harder than playing at Old Trafford”.

The Arsenal boss is determined to repeat last season’s knock-out success, but not at any price given the importance of his team’s Premier League and Champions League campaigns.

He rested Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Gilberto Silva from the starting line-up at Old Trafford and seems set to use the strength in depth of his squad again against Chelsea.

After all, the sixth-round tie is set to come just three days before Arsenal play Roma at home in their Champions League second group stage.

Wenger gave a clear indication of his priorities by admitting the main down-side of reaching the semi-finals would be having to postpone a Premiership game: “The problem we have with the FA Cup is that we may have to postpone our game against Southampton, but if we want to win it, we know that we’ll have to play the big teams at some stage. Last season, we played Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea.

“This season, we have played Manchester United and now Chelsea. It all depends on the momentum you have. We need to keep the momentum going and rotate the team, so I will have to rest some players.”

Chelsea chairman Ken Bates is looking for revenge for last season’s FA Cup final defeat by Arsenal and said the winner at Highbury would go on to lift the trophy in May. “My initial reaction was ‘what a waste’. Chelsea versus Arsenal in the Millennium Stadium is what we wanted to gain revenge for last season’s final.

“Of all the clubs we didn’t want to play, it was Arsenal, simply for that reason.

“But we’ll have to beat them some time if we want to win the cup and now is as good a time as any”.

Chelsea may have reached their seventh FA Cup quarter-final in the past 10 seasons but they have an appalling record over the years at Highbury.

“All records come to an end, as we found with Tottenham last season. . . I wonder who we’ll get in the semi-finals?” concluded Bates.

Leeds manager Terry Venables is upbeat about going to Bramall Lane in the quarter-finals, despite Sheffield United’s 2-1 Worthington Cup victory earlier this season.

Venables has been heartened by the way his team have responded since then in knock-out competition with Crystal Palace defeated on Sunday at Selhurst Park: “We face a tough task but we have managed to deal with tough challenges at Scunthorpe, Gillingham and Crystal Palace.

“We will have plenty of respect for Sheffield United. They have shown everyone what they are capable of do ing so there can be no surprise factor. It is ironic we are playing them again after the Worthington Cup tie. We thought we played very well against them apart from the closing minutes.

“They have had two great cup runs this season. They really impressed me by getting to the semi-final of the Worthington Cup.”

Southampton manager Gordon Strachan admits he is already dreaming of cup glory after being paired with First Division Wolves in the quarter-finals. After seeing off Norwich in the fifth round, Strachan’s side face another Division One promotion hopeful at St Mary’s Stadium, with the manager in bullish mood.

He is determined to avenge a quarter-final defeat when he was in charge of Coventry, the then-Premiership Sky Blues slipping up against First Division Sheffield United.

Strachan said: “The last time I was a manager in the quarter-finals was with Coventry when we beat Aston Villa, Liverpool and Derby but then lost on penalties in a replay against Sheffield United.

“I don’t think we scored even one of our penalties, it was that bad. Now I’ve got to make sure we can take them in case they are needed. We can beat anybody but we can lose to anybody as well.”

The clash sets up a long-awaited return to the south coast for Wolves manager Dave Jones, who insists he bears no grudges over the manner of his departure.

Burnley manager Stan Ternent, whose side went down 2-1 at Vicarage Road in November, is keen to exact revenge against Watford if they overcome Fulham in next Wednesday’s fifth-round replay.

“Our record is half decent down there and we have some unfinished business with them,” he said.

“We have got Fulham first and, if we can get past that, we are capable of beating Watford on our day.

“It’s fantastic to be in the draw. We are in the last nine, as it were, and it keeps us bobbing along nicely.”