FA Cup Fifth Round: Arsenal v Leyton Orient: Match Preview

If there was ever an anti-climatic moment – it is this one. Comingoff the heels of an epic win against Barcelona, Arsenal head on over to Brisbane Road to take on Leyton Orient.

This marks the second time in a row that Arsenal have been pitted aqainst a League 1 side. The last round daw them drawn against Huddersfield Town. Orient are slightly worse off than the possibly promotable Huddersfield as they sit 11th in the League 1 table.

For Arsenal look for their to be many changes from the side that took on Barcelona. There are a lot of matches coming up in a small time frame. From the mid week tie against Stoke to next weekend’s Carling Cup final against Birmingham. The Gunners are in all four of their competitions and it is adding up to some fixutre congestion. So that means the likes of Van Persie, Walcott, Cesc, Song and a few others will likely sit on the bench or out entirely.

Still, there should be enought quality to come in and move the side through to the next round. Here is the thing though, since 2005, our last Fa Cup title, the Gunners have only progressed through to the next round once – that was two seasons ago when we played Chelsea at Wembley in the Semis.

The “Second” team of Arsenal need to show what they can do.  Those players that do play need to seize the moment they are being given and need to show that they deserve to wear the kit of the club . The club is on the cuspt of something I feel it, but it needs all its players to show they can come along for the ride. As we have seen this season, the second set of players has been less than stellar  and have usually required on oe fht efirst teamers to come on in 60th minute to save them

This has to be the moment where that can’t happen. Chamakh, Bendtner and others all have the talent to play this game. They need to step on to the pitch and show their own quality. My opinion is that certain players will be gone this year if they don’t THere are players currently out on loan that are having great spells with their loan clubs. Like Henri Lansbury, who doesn’t seeem to be stopping his ability to score for Norwich. Or Japanaese wunderkid Ryo Miyaichi, who scored the opener for Feynoord. Ryo has been at the Dutch club that gave us Van Persie for just over a monmth and is already building a cult like following with his skill on the ball.

The point is these players and more are going to come back into the fold this summer and the likes of Denilson, Rosicky, Bendtner and even the hero fo Wednesday night, Andrei Arshavin are going to have to show they should stay. With new policies on club size and financials coming into play, I get the feeling the Gunners will keep their first team in tact and trying build their depth through the right components in the reserves.

It really is a juggling act keeping all these players happy and content. Wenger must balance the need to rotate his squad with the obvious desire to win. I tghink he knows that epic switches to the squad * or more changes) usually result in a flat side. The squad usually out play their opponent but their chemsitry is not there because the team doesn’t play as a unit that often together. The first team are coming together because they are enjoying an unprecendented run of health and form. That has made it easy for them to grow.  The second team , well they’ve bee slotting in as late match replacements and coming together as s quad when the FA Cup or earlier Carling Cup stages come around.

I’m not making it as an excuse. There is a lot of talent even in the second team and frankly, it has to use it and move away from depending on the likes of Fabregas or Nasri to come rescue them.  THat being said, I won’t be surprised to see Nasri play to keep getting back into tmatch shape ahead. He is freshest

The final point on this, it is certainly a wacky year. First since 2005 winning season, more often than not we’ve drawn EPL sides at this stage. The opponents side of fielding strong regular squads versus our mix of youth and reserves usually meant we would go home after this. That policy has changed somewhat as stronger teams, less youthful ones have been fielded. Also we are not drawing big clubs we are drawing minnows. And then finally, look at what is going on around us, CHelsea, the cup holder fopr the last two seasons, epically collapses against Everton and is out of the cup. Then United draw non-league Crawly Town and need the wood work to preserve a draw. Fergie fielded an all bench warmers from the first team side. SImply point, I’ve never seen so many things set up right for the Arsenal. It surely is their moment to grasp the bull by the horns.

Winning begets a confident mentality. And sure enough, there is a solid mentality around the club, given the recent results – undefeated in their last nine matches in all competitions (8W 1D), they are the only EPL club up for all four competitions, and their last way loss was 12 January against Ipswich town. All in all thre is enough there to keep everyone confident int he abilities of the club. IT is now up to the players that Wenger picks to not lose focus after the Barca match and bear down on Leyton Orient to take the match and move on.

Probable Starting XI:
Arsenal: Almunia, Eboue, Gibbs, Koscielny, Squillaci, Denilson, Rosicky, Wilshere, Arshavin, Chamakh, Bendtner

Broadcast Options:
US: FSC 11:30 AM EST

UK: ESPN UK 1630 GMT

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