Arsene Wenger has once again spoken about the importance of the FA Cup, especially to Arsenal.

Our first match of the competition comes against Sunderland on Saturday and although we’re likely to see a weakened team against the Black Cats, the boss insists that he does take the competition seriously.

“This is a serious competition,” said Wenger.

“I’ve won the FA Cup six times – that means I take it seriously. In the whole history, nobody won it more. That means as well that it’s not so easy to win it. You want to feel as well that your team is ready for every single challenge and the FA Cup is one that matters to us.”

As usual, we’re likely to see a combination of experienced and not-so-experienced players. However, this is the way Wenger has always done it and considering we’ve won the FA Cup for two seasons running, I don’t think anyone can accuse the manager of not taking it seriously.

What is important is resting some of our first team players after an intense run of games over the festive period. Although people are bound to moan if Wenger does field a second-string team against Sunderland, I’m sure they’d moan a lot more if we played Mesut Ozil and he got injured.

As a manager, you have to choose your battles and although we will fight against Sunderland, Wenger has to look at the bigger picture. Even without the likes of Ozil on the pitch, we should still be strong enough to beat Sunderland.