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Sunday’s FA Cup matches already.
Other scores:
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Oxford 0-1 Sunderland
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Stoke 1-2 Fulham
Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield is the move a few Gunners fans have been waiting for. He’s a left-back when in the first team but found it tough to win a place. He’s been bred as a midfielder. Touch of the Trent Alexander-Arnold there, perhaps.
Kevin Archer gets in touch: “I may be over-tired and easily confused, but did you say in your opening preamble that the FA Cup was “a holiday for Ryan Lowe and his team”, and then go on to inform us that Ryan Lowe had been sacked last week? Not much of a holiday that. Reminds me of the time I went on holiday recently and both my kids came down with chicken pox. Super.”
Presume Ryan Lowe is on holiday somewhere. Hopefully his kids don’t come down with chicken pox.
Graham Barrow, with fine Lancastrian accent, speaks to TNT: “The club is in a good place. I just told them to wave to their families and get on with it. It’s been hard work getting to this. The lads out there are the one who got us there. It is a relief from the league and the grind. The owners deserve more as they saved the club."
He reminds that Wigan played Arsenal in the 2014 semi-final at Wembley.
A blueprint for Messrs Barrow and Whelan?
As Joe Meadway writes as he gets in touch: “Thankfully we sacked Ryan Lowe last week after a 6-1 defeat at Peterborough. So it’s now Graham Barrow and Glenn Whelan and their team, and much more confidence of staying up this season than before. The less said about Lowe the better.”
Graham Barrow is on his sixth turn as Wigan caretaker; he’s 71. Glenn Whelan, the former Ireland international and Pulis lieutenant, is on his second spell as caretaker. If that doesn’t tell you Wigan have been having a tough time, then I don’t know what does.
The big news is that William Saliba starts, as Eberechi Eze, the star man of last season’s FA Cup, get his chance to shine. That Gunners front three has a fluid look about it. Still no Kai Havertz.
Glenn Whelan and Graham Barrow are in charge of Wigan after Ryan Lowe was sacked last week. Via their website, here’s their team news: “Owen Moxon replaces former Arsenal man Matt Smith in the engine room, while Raphael Borges Rodrigues and Joe Taylor come in for Harrison Bettoni and Christian Saydee in attack.”
The teams
Arsenal: Arrizabalaga, White, Saliba, Mosquera, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Norgaard, Eze, Madueke, Martinelli, Jesus. Subs: Setford, Hincapie, Gabriel, Zubimendi, Rice, Trossard, Saka, Salmon, Gyokeres
Wigan: Tickle, Fox, Aimson, Kerr (Capt), Hunt, Murray, Weir, Moxon, Raphael, Wright, Taylor. Subs: Savin, Sessegnon, M.Smith, Hungbo, McManaman, Bettoni, Costelloe, Saydee, Asamoah Jr.
Preamble
Both these teams have been winners in the 21st century, with Wigan winners in 2013. Arsenal are an opponent who carry portents as it was at the Emirates, three days later, that a 4-1 defeat condemned them to relegation from the Premier League, where they have never returned. This season, the Latics, who have been through financial and ownership issues in recent years, are fighting a relegation battle, one that should they lose, will drop them down to League Two. They have not been a fourth-tier club since 1997, when they came into the Football League in 1978. So, the FA Cup is a holiday for Ryan Lowe and his team Wigan. Arsenal have one trophy in focus, the Premier League but surely they can’t slip up here? It would register as one of the greatest FA Cup shocks in history. Which is why we’re here.
Kick-off at 4.30pm, UK time. Join me.
