Arsenal will play their 19th FA Cup final on Saturday. Having won the cup 11 times, Arsenal will be looking to continue their dominance in the competition. Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger talked about the availability of the squad in a press conference today and announced that Danny Welbeck will miss out due to his injury:
“Danny Welbeck is still out. He will not be fit for us or for England. That’s basically the only injury we have at the moment. Everyone else is available. Arteta is back in full training. We have no new injuries from the weekend.”
Despite Welbeck’s injury, Arsenal won’t have much to worry about as they have many options available to cover for the injured striker. With Olivier Giroud set to start the final, fans will be keen to see Theo Walcott involved in the game at some stage. Theo Walcott has been willing to play as a striker for a long time and Arsène Wenger feels that in near future, he will be seen in that position:
“He’s shown he is back in good form. I played him up front because I believe he can do it. He proved he can do it and in the future Walcott will be a central striker.”
Walcott scored a hat-trick in Arsenal’s last league game and his finishing was as good as any top striker in the league. With an almost fully fit squad, Arsenal will go into the final as favorites but as history teaches us, FA Cup games are always unpredictable.
