‘Three in a row would be fantastic’

Arsene Wenger says it would be “absolutely fantastic” if Arsenal were to win the FA Cup for the third season in a row.

The Gunners ended a nine-year wait for a trophy when they won the competition in 2014, before retaining it last year with a 4-0 win against Aston Villa in the final.

 

Wenger’s side face a fifth-round replay at Hull City on Tuesday night, and the manager says the FA Cup means as much as ever.

 

“If we were able to do it again, it would be absolutely fantastic,” he said. “There’s no country where the national cup is bigger.

“In Spain and France, nobody neglects it: not Barcelona, not Madrid. Everybody plays for it 100 per cent, with a top team always.

“I personally rate highly the FA Cup. I think it’s a fantastic, prestigious competition. I believe it is treated like that because when I listen to people, should we lose a game in the FA Cup, it would be a disaster. You cannot say on one side it’s undervalued, and on the other side if we lose, it’s a disaster.

“We won the FA Cup twice in the last two years. We will try to do our best again in this competition.”

Wenger insists his side will go into Tuesday’s game at the KC Stadium in a positive mood after coming back to claim a hard-fought point in the north London derby.

“Yes, they will feel different,” he said. “We feel we had the right response after going down to 10 men. We were really down after Swansea because that was a terrible night for us. We responded very well, showing this group is united.”