After a nail-biting late show from Arsenal on Saturday afternoon, the Gunners have booked themselves into a second successive FA Cup final.
And the element of surprise that comes with this brilliant competition featured yet again this weekend, as Aston Villa dumped out Liverpool to book their place at Wembley on May 30th.
However, when it comes down to the fixture in just over a months time, we’ve picked out five reasons why the Gunners have the edge over Villa.
Options On The Bench
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Let’s hope it doesn’t come down to this, but if Arsenal do find themselves struggling to break down a well-formed Villa defence, then they’ve always got the boys on the bench.
Things were looking gritty in the semi-final and Wenger had the choice of Giroud, Walcott or Wilshere to throw into the mix.
There is still doubt over who will start up top in the final, but if it is Giroud, then Welbeck can bring a serious amount of work rate and energy.
Add the influence of Theo Walcott into the situation and you have a player who can take on a defence with some tired legs, a lethal combination that will surely end up with an Arsenal goal.
If Villa find themselves in a sticky situation then they realistically don’t have any of the game changers to turn to. Sherwood’s selections against Liverpool left him with only two attacking players to choose from, which is all well and good if you’ve got the lead behind you.
We have to predict that Arsenal will grab the opener, and if they do then I can only see them punishing in this Cup final. Sherwood will inevitably line up with Benteke and Agbonlahor as a striker partnership if the latter is available.
If they find themselves needing a goal they’ll have either Joe Cole or Scott Sinclair to turn to, not the greatest couple to put your faith in when trying to get back into the game.