Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal face a huge challenge as they try to avoid their second Cup upset in a week.
BLACKBURN: Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal face a huge challenge as they try to avoid their second Cup upset in a week.
Wenger takes his side to face Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup fifth round replay just three days after their dramatic League Cup final loss to Chelsea. With defender Kolo Toure and striker Emmanuel Adebayor collecting red cards in the closing seconds of that Millennium Stadium clash, the fall-out from the controversial 2-1 defeat at the hands of their London rivals has yet to settle.
And the prospect of facing Blackburn in another highly charged Cup tie couldn’t have come at a worse time for Wenger’s team. The first meeting of the two sides ended in acrimony following a scoreless draw at the Emirates Stadium with Gunners midfielder Cesc Fabregas clashing with Blackburn manager Mark Hughes over Rovers’ physical style of play.
And having stuck by his policy of playing his younger squad members in the domestic cup competitions, Wenger admits he is now unsure of how to approach Wednesday’s match at Ewood Park.
“I cannot say now what team I will field at Blackburn,” the Arsenal manager said. “I just wish we did not have to do it because it is certainly not a dream place for us to go. There is a danger when making changes, but I can say as well that I made eight or nine at Bolton in the last round and it worked. It’s the mystery of management but I still don’t know enough about it,” the Frenchman added.
“You never can predict how human beings are and what kind of wave the team is on. Whatever happens I know we will adapt. We have the squad to cope with it, but you never know how human beings will react.”
Hughes, meanwhile, is hoping his decision to rest Benni McCarthy last weekend will help fire Blackburn into the FA Cup quarter-finals. The Rovers boss opted to keep his 15-goal leading scorer back on the substitutes bench for the weekend 3-0 victory over Portsmouth, allowing stand-in Shabani Nonda to take centre-stage with a two-goal display.
The winners of Wednesday’s match will have a home draw in the last eight of the FA Cup against another Premiership side in Manchester City.
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