MATCH PREVIEW: Arsenal VS Coventry City

Arsenal fight for a place in the next round of the FA Cup against Coventry City at the Emirates Stadium on Friday. They qualified for the 4^th round after beating north London rivals, Tottenham Hotspurs 2-0 at the Emirates, thanks to goals by Santi Cazorla and Tomas Rosicky.

Speaking to journalist ahead of the clash, Arsene Wenger expressed his admiration for the FA Cup, a competition he has won four times since he arrived at Arsenal.

“The only competition I could watch in France when I was a kid was the FA Cup final,” Wenger said.

“On black-and-white television, every year we saw the cup final. It’s a very prestigious competition for me.”

The two sides last met in the third round of the Capital One Cup in 2012, with Arsenal romping to a 6-1 home win in a match that saw Olivier Giroud score his first goal for the club.

Arsenal would go into the game, a better side currently leading the Premier League table in one of its finest season in recent years. Arsene Wenger would also be aiming at winning the FA Cup in his hopes to end the trophy drought at the club. The FA Cup being the last trophy his team won, back in 2005.

Arsenal have a rich history in the FA Cup, having won the competition on 10 occasions. Only Manchester United have won the tournament more times, and Coventry are also former winners, in 1987.

The game on Friday, would be a good time for Wenger to rotate his squad a little, but still present a team strong enough to out-muscle their opponents. He revealed Nicklas Bendtner could spearhead the attack after recovering from an ankle injury.

“He’s been back in the squad since the start of the week and he’s available if selected.”

The manager went on to reveal that the trio of Mikel Arteta, Tomas Rosicky and Aaron Ramsey would miss the game but should all be available next week.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is also expected to play a part in the game. Arsene Wenger believes the winger could play tomorrow and hinted he could play from the central position.

This clash will just be their fourth against each other in the FA Cup. Arsenal knocked Coventry out of the competition in the fourth round in 1975 and 1977, and 37 years on, they will hope for the same result in their continued push for trophies.

The match would kick-off at exactly 19:45 PM GMT.