Arsenal travel to the South coast looking to secure a place in the 5th round of the FA Cup. Brighton, under the guidance of new manager Chris Hughton have slowly picked up some form after their poor start to the season, and will be looking to cause a cup shock this Sunday.
The Seagulls come into the game on the back of a great win against high-flyers Ipswich, and will look to continue their good run, led by on-loan Liverpool striker Joao Teixeira.
Wenger has already confirmed that Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott are likely to start, whilst its also believed Wojciech Szczesny is back in contention after his recent dismissal from the side.
Arsenal travelled to Brighton two seasons ago at the same stage of the competition, picking up a 3-2 victory, and a similar result wouldn’t go a miss this time in what is set to be a very difficult cup tie. On the tie Wenger has said “It’s always difficult in the Championship away from home. I remember it was a very difficult game two years ago against a team who were on the way up with Gus Poyet. We needed to dig deep to get out with a positive result.
“Chris Hughton will give them his experience and his competence, of course. He knows how to prepare a team for a challenge like this. For us the challenge is to turn up with the same spirit and show that we can be consistent with our attitude game by game.
“In the FA Cup, god knows that is needed. We know that it will be another big challenge for us to go there and come home with a positive result.”
Team wise Hector Bellerin and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will face late fitness tests in what is expected to be a strong, but rotated line-up for the Gunners.
Coming off the back of a huge result at City, few would begrudge some of the Arsenal faithful expecting this one to be a walk in the park. This however, will definitely not be the case, and Arsenal will come up against a well structured and robust Brighton side. To gain a positive result Arsenal will have to be disciplined and determined, anything less and a shock could be on the cards.