Wenger - Cup defeats have a big impact

Arsene Wenger says his players have learnt their lesson from last February’s shock FA Cup defeat to Blackburn Rovers.

The Gunners were beaten by the Championship club in the fifth round, and lost the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Bayern Munich three days later.

Wenger says the knock-on effects of a painful FA Cup exit are clear, but insists his squad will not make the same mistake against Tottenham on Saturday.

“In the case of Blackburn at home you always say to your players 'be careful' and they think, 'OK, if you do your job you win your match and you go through',” he said.

“But we were a bit unlucky because they only had one shot and they scored. But what was important is that after 15 years we had never gone out against a team from a lower division, so it was a good learning process.

“It was not only a low point in the season it was also something that put us in a very, very bad position to play against Bayern. You could see when we started the game against Bayern that everybody was low on confidence and it cost us a lot.

“It was a big shock and we did not have time to recover because three days later we played against Bayern at home and we were not ourselves. But that's not a danger on Saturday - the players know this will be a big game.

“Last year when we played Blackburn it was one of the remaining targets of the season but this year because we are in a strong position, it will not stop us from focusing on the Premier League. Still, it's better to go through.”