Arsenal cannot afford to take the FA Cup lightly amid their pursuits of Premier League and Champions League glory and should have enough in the tank to bring Manchester United's defence to a swift end this weekend.
That is the view of Gunners expert Charles Watts, who spoke to Sports Mole ahead of Sunday's mouthwatering third-round clash between the two most successful teams in the history of the prestigious competition.
Arsenal boast an unparalleled 14 FA Cup crowns, but they have failed to progress beyond round four since beating Chelsea in the 2019-20 final, while Man United upset Manchester City 2-1 in last season's showpiece to hoist the trophy aloft for the 13th time.
Even though Gooners are now pining for Premier League and UCL success, Watts has insisted that Arteta cannot "wash his hands" of any competition as he approaches the five-year mark without a major trophy, excluding the Community Shield.
"They need to try and go deep in this competition," Watts said. "I don't think Arsenal are in a position to be able to prioritise competitions too much. It's been a long time since Arsenal lifted a trophy, so I don't think they can really sort of wash their hands of any competition. They've got to go for all of them.
"With the FA Cup, they've lost to Liverpool last season, the defeat at Nottingham Forest [in 2021-22], it feels like they need to show that they can cope with the demands of these sort of games.
"I'm sure he'll make a couple of changes for United, but he will take it seriously. Linking priorities at the start of the season, it would have been Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, no doubt about that. But you've still got to try and win these competitions.
"And it's a big competition for Arsenal. The FA Cup. And they've not been good enough in recent years. So no, I think he'll go strong for this one."
Arsenal vs. Man United: A "bad time" to play the Red Devils?
Arsenal boss Arteta has already got one over newly-appointed Red Devils boss Ruben Amorim since the Portuguese answered the Old Trafford call, masterminding a 2-0 Premier League win in December thanks to a pair of corner goals.
However, the North London giants come into Sunday's tantalising tie on the back of their first home loss of the season, suffering a gut-wrenching 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final on Tuesday evening.
On the other hand, Man United should have the wind in their sails after an applaudable 2-2 Premier League draw away to title favourites Liverpool, and the Red Devils could have left with a shock win had Harry Maguire not blazed a golden chance over the bar right at the death.
Despite the contrast in recent results, Watts still expects Man United's FA Cup reign to end at the Emirates, adding: "I don't know if it's a bad time to play them. Fair play to them, I did not see that performance coming against Liverpool. I thought Liverpool would win that fairly comfortably. But it was only a couple of days before that they were played off the park by Newcastle at Old Trafford.
"They're going to be confident after that draw, they're going to have a week to prepare for the game. But I watched Arsenal play Man United just a month ago and Arsenal were great on that occasion. They were still comfortably better than Manchester United. So as long as they play well this weekend at home, I'd still back them to win."
Arteta is expected to be working with an identical squad from the midweek defeat to Newcastle, with the injured quartet of Bukayo Saka (hamstring), Ethan Nwaneri (muscle), Ben White (knee) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) set to miss out again.
While the Gunners boss is bereft of options for change on the right-hand side, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Riccardo Calafiori, Kieran Tierney and Oleksandr Zinchenko are all vying for starts on the left, but the latter two are now nothing more than bit-part players.
Should Arteta promote "underused" defender to starting lineup?
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Zinchenko was hailed as a transformative signing in 2022, but the Ukrainian has only started two Premier League matches this season, and a recent report claimed that Arteta was 'open-minded' to the idea of selling him to Inter Milan this month.
"I think Zinchenko has been underused this season," Watts added. "He's fallen way down the pecking order at Arsenal. I think he's an option to play in that left eight role that Arsenal, that Arteta just hasn't utilised.
"It's really surprised me because we can see him play there for Ukraine and play there very, very well. Yet Arteta just clearly doesn't fancy him in that role. But I think he could play really well there for Arsenal and add some creativity that they lack in that central area. So I'd like to see Zinchenko get a few more minutes, and United's definitely a potential option for that."
Sunday's game may also be an ample opportunity for on-loan goalkeeper Neto to make his debut - the Bournemouth-owned man is cup-tied for the EFL Cup - but Watts expects Arteta to stick with regular shot-stopper David Raya this weekend.
"I don't think he'll play Neto," Watts added. "I still think he'll go with David Raya. I don't think he'll feel under any obligation to play Neto in these games. He's there purely as backup for David Raya, but I think for the FA Cup, he'll play Raya.
"But elsewhere, the options are so slim at the moment because of injuries and things like that, I don't think he's in a position where he could really rotate too much."
Arsenal and Man United have not locked horns in the FA Cup since a fourth-round encounter in January 2019, where ex-Gunner Alexis Sanchez was among the scorers in a 3-1 victory for the Red Devils.
Ben Knapton
