The time has finally come for all Arsenal fans to stop what they’re doing and embrace the footballing magic that is the FA Cup final.
For many of this Gunners squad, it will be a familiar journey down to Wembley Way after making it back-to-back FA Cup final appearances.
Arsene Wenger’s men have a club record 11 consecutive wins in the competition so far, but for now let’s take a look at the team who are looking to put a stop to us making it 12.
Joining the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil in London on Saturday afternoon are relegation fighters, Aston Villa, who in no way can be written off of this one.
It was a disappointing end to the Premier League campaign for Tim Sherwood’s men, who let down the loyal home fans with a 1-0 loss to Championship-bound Burnley.
A week before that we saw the drubbing at St Mary’s stadium, where Villa were knocked for six on the penultimate day of the season, hardly the confidence boost they needed to take to Wembley.
It’s hard to pinpoint where the real problem lies in this Villa side, who struggled without the injured Christian Benteke. And things never exactly brightened up at the other end of the pitch, with a defensive strategy that seemed to change week upon week.
Villa stand as the third highest team when looking at goals conceded this season, with 53 getting their way past veteran goalkeeper Shay Given, who currently boasts the unimpressive statistic of 1.4 goals conceded per game.
However, putting the poor results aside, Sherwood has managed to fight another season, after finishing up on 38 points, an impressive tally for any side who finish in 17th position.
Sherwood is also the man responsible for getting this Villa squad to this weekends final, and after his appointment back in mid-February has picked up some significant results in a competition he adores.
In his reign, the FA Cup has produced six goals for the Villans and they’ve conceded just two whilst playing sides like Leicester City, West Brom and of course the semi-final shock against Liverpool.
But for all of the praise that can be thrown in the direction of Sherwood, you can’t help but let Christian Benteke have a bit of the splash-back.
The Belgian beast has 15 goals in all competitions, and with one of those coming in the semi-final most Arsenal fans won’t need reminding of what the striker can pull off.
Arsene Wenger was keen to point out that Premier League form doesn’t count for anything in cup games, but Villa have a steady 13 points from their last 10 games in the league, including respective wins against both Tottenham and Everton, so they aren’t afraid to take on the big boys.
So things will be far from easy when the Gunners come up against this revived Aston Villa side, but they do of course have one strong advantage.
For many of this squad it looks like a case of de ja vu when kick off comes at 5.30pm on Saturday. Hull City were in much the same position last year as Villa are at the moment, and we all knew what happened in the opening 20 minutes at Wembley.
Sherwood and his men are coming with nothing to lose, a trophy would simply be the icing on a very expensive Premier League survival cake. Wenger understands that, but do these players?
If the Gunners can carry this seasons home form over the road then it’ll be case of sticking it to a defensively poor Villa side. But one thing we can be sure of however, is this looks set to be an absolute cracker.
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