The FA Cup is so important to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger that he always fields his best team, leading the Frenchman to believe that if he had sent out weaker teams for Cup matches that Arsenal would have fared better in the Champions League.
The competition is of great importance to the Gunners boss – so much so he thinks Arsenal could have done better in Europe if he’d fielded weaker teams.
Wenger has won the FA Cup five times with Arsenal and thinks they have a good shot of winning it again this season as they go into Sundays match with Middlesbrough red-hot favourites.
The Arsenal manager said: “It is important to us and we have always taken it seriously. We did not always manage to win it, but we have won it five times during my period here.
“Nobody has won it more in the last 18 years, so we have always taken it seriously. Sometimes so seriously that we suffered in the Champions League.
“Many times a cup game was in front of a Champions League game – for instance this week we play in the cup and then the week after next in the Champions League. Many times we lost some players.
“I remember against Manchester United when we played against Chelsea in the Champions League three days later we lost some because we took the game seriously.”
The Gunners are currently sitting fifth in the Premiership just one point behind the all-important qualifying fourth place spot with Wenger maintaining that finishing at least fourth is as important as winning the FA Cup.
He added: “Our basic is always to finish in the top four and then win a trophy on top of that.
“We want always to be in the Champions League and this season it will be very tight if you look at the table. Every game now becomes a cup game.”
