by Nia Griffiths

Arsene Wenger, usually so calm and collected, admitted to feeling a bit ‘nervy‘ ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup final against Aston Villa.

Le Professeur is not known for getting easily flustered. However, speaking ahead of our victory parade on Sunday, he revealed how he was actually pretty nervous before the match at Wembley, saying, “It’s a great weekend. I was a bit nervy because having got to the final, what a disaster it [would be] not to win it.”

It’s reassuring to know it’s not just us then!

He continued, “But we dealt well with pressure, had a convincing performance and the game was a continuity of what we produced in 2015.”

Wenger also mentioned how far this team have come, and where it could be heading.

“I feel that we are moving forward, that we have made progress. The cohesion, the quality, the desire, the intelligence of the players is there. So we have some very good ingredients to do more.”

The hunger in this particular group of players is unlike anything we’ve seen for a long time. Before, we often had one or two of the ‘ingredients‘ Wenger mentioned, but without the others, just like a cake, we sort of fell flat. Now we seem to have found the winning recipe for success.

The FA Cup marked Wenger’s sixth trophy in the competition – more than any other manager – and the club’s 12th – more than any other club. By this point, I think we’ve well and truly draped red and white all over that silver cup.

Long may it remain in North London.