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Kick Off: 1955, 20/02/2017
Stadium: Borough Sports Ground
TV: BBC One
The FA Cup doesn’t get any more romantic than Sutton hosting Arsenal, but we’re betting with our heads and not our hearts on Monday night’s clash, with the Gunners tipped at 6/5 to win by at least three clear goals.
Arsene Wenger could certainly do with a boost and lifting this trophy for the third time in four years could be the best chance he has of keeping the wolves from his door.
There was hardly a dry eye in the house when Sutton knocked out Leeds at Gander Green Lane in round four, with a James Collins penalty proving enough to see off the highly-rated Championship side, and drawing Arsenal was just reward for that effort.
The U’s are struggling down in 16th place in the National League, but have also beaten League Two Cheltenham and League One AFC Wimbledon in getting this far, so a recent run of three straight defeats at their own level shouldn’t faze them.
Unfortunately, the timing of this match means that Arsenal should be able to bring a decent team, with the Gunners not due to play again for another 12 days, and 17/20 for the visitors to win to nil is hard to resist, with Leeds having enjoyed almost 68 per cent of possession when they played here and Wenger’s men likely to control even more of the play than that.
Wednesday’s 5-1 thrashing at Bayern Munich prompted renewed calls for Wenger to call it a day but the FA Cup has provided the Frenchman with plenty of welcome fillips in recent years and he will be desperate for another here.
“I always had in my head that it was a very important game,” he commented when looking ahead to this clash. “The FA Cup is one of our targets. It’s the next game and for us to bounce back after the game we just had, it becomes a very important game. But it always was, in my head.”
Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott shared the goals in a 5-0 romp at Southampton in the last round, while even a second-string Arsenal team was good enough to prevail 4-0 at Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup earlier this season, so ignore all those references to ‘the magic of the FA Cup’ and stick with the hard facts.
There is no reason for Welbeck not to be given a full run-out in this fixture after being left stuck on the bench throughout the midweek nightmare in Munich, so 4/1 for the England striker to open the scoring will do for us.
Additional stats
Last result:
Guiseley 2-1 SUTTON – Matt Tubbs (pen)
Bayern Munich 5-1 ARSENAL – Alexis Sanchez
Head-to-head: N/A
