Liverpool travel to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday in the next round of the FA Cup.
So how do we beat them?
Okay, now to make some Reds unhappy. Do we really want to beat them? Hear me out for a second. Our primary goal for this season is to finish in the top four of the league. (And we are still in with a title challenge, even if we a Chihuahua in a horse race). Arsenal have got an impressive home record, losing only once at the Emirates. The last thing that I would like to happen is for our already thinned squad to go to the Emirates and return with a player or two on the injured list.
Arsenal will certainly be smarting after the thumping we gave and they would definitely want to get their own back. A win against our strongest team will not only resurrect their confidence, but it could knock ours. In my opinion, I hope Rodgers sacrifices the FA Cup to achieve more in the league. I would like to see a second string team being put out.
Let’s rest Suarez, Sturridge, Gerrard, Coutinho, Henderson, Skrtel and Mignolet. We should give Jones a start between the sticks. Flanagan is young and should get as much match time as possible to improve his game. Cissokho to play on the left as I would like to give Johnson an extra week off to recover before her takes that position. The same can be said for Toure who I would like to see replaced by Agger in the coming premier league weeks. His partner should be a youngster, either Kelly or Sama in my opinion. I would like to see a midfield four of Allen and Alberto in the middle and Sterling and Ibe giving us width. Upfront, give Iago Aspas a run and play Texeira in the space behind him.
I think this team would be brimming with exciting talent. Should we win, it will give the entire squad a motivational boost. Should we lose…well, it wasn’t our first team after all.
And our competitors…
Regarding the other eight matches, I see Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday, Cardiff, Manchester City, Everton, Nottingham Forest and Hull proceeding to the next round.
Follow Kurt Ellis on Twitter @kurtellis2
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