Manager knows his quadruple-chasers have a target on their back in their FA Cup fifth round trip to Mansfield
M
ikel Arteta knows the score. There is a reason why Arsenal’s trip to Mansfield Town on Saturday is the tie of the FA Cup fifth round, why it has been selected by TNT Sports for a 12.15pm kick-off. It has all the ingredients and everybody – Arsenal fans aside – is looking for an upset. Arteta was asked whether he was clear on that point. “Yes,” the Arsenal manager replied.
It has always been this way when a top club visits a minnow and, to repeat, the plotlines are certainly there for this one. Mansfield are 16th in League One, too close to the relegation line for the comfort of the manager, Nigel Clough. The Stags have gone nine league matches without a win.
Arsenal are chasing the quadruple and there was a revealing moment when Clough considered the chasm in quality between the squads. “We drew Arsenal here in the FA Youth Cup and they beat us 4-1,” he said of a third-round tie played in December. “There were two or three playing that night who would cause us problems in our first team.”
