FA Cup Scout Notes – Fifth Round – Sunday

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain claims a goal and assist as Arsenal edge into the last eight of the FA Cup with a narrow win over Liverpool. Steven Gerrard notches the Reds’ only strike via the spot as Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge both draw blanks. Lacina Traore needs just four minutes to score on his Everton debut as Steven Naismith climbs off the bench to grab a goal and assist as the Toffees register a 3-1 win over Swansea:

Arsenal Avenge Anfield Hammering
Arsenal Wenger retained only four of the starting XI that started against United on Wednesday. Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Mikel Arteta and Mesut Ozil were the only players to keep their places in a side that saw Yaya Sanogo handed a rare chance to lead the line, with Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski fielded on the flanks. The latter two played pivotal roles as Arsenal avenged their Gameweek 25 defeat at the hands of the Merseysiders by grabbing a goal apiece – Oxlade Chamberlain also chipped in with an assist to continue the impressive home form which also saw him net twice against Palace in Gameweek 24.

Unfortunately for Fantasy managers, this results puts paid to Arsenal’s Gameweek 29 clash with Swansea, which was initially scheduled for Saturday March 8. The Gunners now play Everton in the FA Cup that weekend and, with a Champions League clash with Bayern Munich the following Tuesday, the Swans match will need to be played in an alternative Gameweek.

Post-match, Wenger revealed he dropped Olivier Giroud to the bench as the frontman looked “a bit tired”, before going on to discuss the rest of his team selection:

“I made changes, most of them for medical reasons. Some for technical reasons, because [for example] the [No 2] goalkeeper always plays [in the FA Cup]. I rate Fabianski so highly that I had no hesitation to play him. Jack Wilshere had a stiff back, after that Cazorla was ill, Gibbs had a little muscular problem, Sagna was tired. But I kept the defensive stability with Mertesacker and Koscielny. I rested Rosicky completely. They will be OK for Wednesday, but we lose Arteta, who is suspended for Wednesday night.”

Rodgers Focussing on League After Cup Loss
Brendan Rodgers made a couple of alterations from the side that edged past Fulham in midweek. Daniel Agger was fit enough to start ahead of Kolo Toure at centre-half, whilst Joe Allen got the nod over Jordan Henderson in the midfield three after the latter underwent wrist surgery prior to the match. Whilst the Gunners defence kept Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge off the scoresheet, Steven Gerrard’s spot-kick duties helped the Reds skipper grab his side’s consolation after the Uruguayan was felled in the box but, despite dominating, the visitors fell to defeat to leave them with just league duties to concentrate on.

At present, their Gameweek 29 home clash with Sunderland is currently called off after the Black Cats earned a place in the quarter-finals by seeing off Southampton yesterday. However, with neither club in Europe, there’s still a possibility that this one could be moved to midweek, thus remaining in the same Gameweek – those Fantasy managers currently holding both Suarez and Sturridge will be keen for some clarification in light of a potential blank. After the game, Rodgers stated that he is hoping the Emirates loss proves a blessing in disguise as Liverpool look to regroup before concentrating on their title bid:

“I suppose it narrows our focus now to one competition. We’ll just continue with the confidence and the belief that we have been playing with. You saw it today and if we play with that aggression, we’re going to have a really exciting 12 games to finish the season. But I wouldn’t like to say that we want to be out, because it was a competition that we wanted to get to the final of. Unfortunately, we’ve lost, so congratulations to Arsenal, who go through. We’ve got to go home and lick our wounds.”

Traore Notches On Debut as Toffees Advance
Roberto Martinez made three changes from the team that lost to Spurs at the Lane last weekend for yesterday’s visit of Swansea. Lacina Traore, Ross Barkley and Joel Robles came in for Steven Naismith, Leon Osman and Tim Howard, with Traore needing just four minutes to grab a goal on his debut before being replaced by Naismith on the hour mark. The Scot staked a claim for a starting berth by playing a pivotal role in his side’s 3-1 success, emerging from the bench to grab a goal and assist (earning spot-kick which was converted by Leighton Baines ) to set up a quarter-final showdown with Arsenal.

This result means that the Toffees’ Gameweek 29 match at Newcastle, initially pencilled in for Sunday March 9, will now need to be rescheduled but, as neither club is involved in European competition, there’s still a chance it could be moved to the midweek, thus staying in the confines of the same Gameweek.

After the match, Martinez heaped praise on Traore and Naismith as his options for the lone striker role increase, before allaying any fears over the latter’s withdrawal from a head knock late on:

“For Lacina Traore to play 60 minutes was a real success. I thought he coped with those instructions for the team off the ball really well and he scored within four minutes of his new career. It is a beautiful sign for the future. Then to see Steven Naismith continue with his good moment of form, taking his goal really well….Steven’s okay. We’re going to check him in the next 24 hours. He had a bit of a delayed concussion. When he had the knock he was okay, then he became a bit dizzy and he couldn’t remember much of what was happening. At that point we couldn’t take any risks. We’ll observe him over the next 24 hours but we’re hoping he’ll be fine and he’ll be able to join the group for this week’s training.”

Swans Slip to Defeat as Monk Rings the Changes
Garry Monk’s first-team selection perhaps hinted at where his priorities lie for the remainder of the season. The interim Swans boss retained just three players (Pablo Hernandez, Wayne Routledge and Jose Canas) from the XI that drew 1-1 with Stoke on Wednesday evening and watched on as Jonathan de Guzman grabbed his side’s only goal.

With upcoming Europa League games against Napoli on the horizon, the short-term schedule (blank Gameweek 29 aside) still remains busy for the Welsh outfit and, after the match, Monk maintained he will continue to utilise the depth of his squad in order to cope:

“When you have seven games in 21 days, it’s impossible to play the same team every game. Everyone will play during this certain period, and all of the players have been magnificent in training. I put a team out that I thought could win the game. It’s a squad game. With Europe, you have to have that rotation. I won’t rotate for the sake of rotating. Until we conceded the second, you wouldn’t have believed we made eight changes.”