Arsenal look to getting pass to FA Cup semifinal

It has been a troubled season for Arsenal but Arsene Wenger’s squad will approach Tuesday’s FA Cup quarterfinal clash with Hull on a high after a hugely encouraging 10 days.

Having booked their appointment with Hull by beating Burnley, the Gunners went on to reach the same stage of the Champions League with a penalty shoot-out win over Roma in midweek before knocking four goals past Blackburn without reply on Saturday. That win proved particularly significant in the light of a rare favour from local rivals Tottenham, who defeated Aston Villa 24 hours later and put Arsenal back in the driving seat in the battle for a top four finish and a guaranteed return to next season’s Champions League. It is all a very far cry from the mood in the wake of Hull’s last visit to the Emirates, back in September. Then, the Premier League newcomers claimed a 2-1 victory that prompted Wenger to accuse his players of complacency.

Within a few weeks of that win, Hull were being tipped as potential candidates for a place in Europe. But the realities of life in the top flight have since hit home and a bleak mid-winter has left Phil Brown’s side too close to the relegation fray for comfort. A 1-1 draw at home to Newcastle on Saturday helped the survival cause, but Hull’s position remains sufficiently precarious for Brown to hint that he may consider resting some players on Tuesday in preparation for next weekend’s league clash with Wigan.

“The last five of the FA Cup — it’s big,” he said, with Chelsea, Manchester United and Everton already having made sure of their places in the semi-finals. “But in the grand scheme of things, not as big as Wigan.” The Cup clash comes too early for Emmanuel
Adebayor and Cesc Fabregas, both of whom are expected to make their return to the Arsenal colours over the course of the next two weeks. Croatian striker Eduardo is also expected to play no part following the ankle injury he suffered in Rome.

But Arsenal’s reserves of match-winning talent have been boosted by the speed with which Andrey Arshavin, the Russian playmaker signed from Zenit St Petersburg in January, has adapted to the demanding physical requirements of the English game. Arshavin was in bewitching form against Blackburn and Wenger has been impressed by the Russian’s willingness to lay solid foundations for the expression of his art through gut-wrenching preparatory work on the training ground.

“To leave St Petersburg, where he was the star, and to go to England at 28 years of age and to say ‘okay, I want to start it all again’, you need to have character and to like challenges,” Wenger said. “He has had a full pre-season because in Russia they had stopped. In his first game, people saw him having had only 10 days’ training.”

Wenger has also been gratified to see his faith in Arshavin’s technical qualities vindicated having lost both Alexander Hleb (to Barcelona) and Tomas Rosicky (to injury) over the last year. “I like players like him who, in the final third, can give you hope and create something you don’t expect,” Wenger said. “I felt we needed that with the players we have and with the type of game we like to play.”