SOCCER ENGLISH FA CUP THIRD ROUND REPLAYS: Leeds Utd v Arsenal:LEEDS MANAGER Simon Grayson will send his players out for tonight's FA Cup third-round replay against Arsenal at Elland Road with big smiles on their faces.
Grayson’s Championship promotion-chasers came within a whisker of pulling off another big Cup upset at the Emirates Stadium 10 days ago and the 41-year-old believes the pressure is all on the Londoners.
Arsene Wenger is reminded more than ever this season it has been almost six years since his side last landed a major trophy, hence his palpable relief after Cesc Fabregas’s last-minute penalty had cancelled out Robert Snodgrass’s spot kick to salvage an unlikely replay.
Arsenal lifted the FA Cup in 2005, last won the Premier League in 2004 and the League Cup in 1993. There is a growing angst among the Gunners’ faithful and Grayson hopes this could work in Leeds’ favour.
Grayson, embarking on his third year in charge at Elland Road, said: “This is definitely a competition Arsenal want to win. They’ll be focused on what they have to do and after being 1-0 down with a minute to go they’ll be delighted to still be in it. But there’s no pressure on us at all. We’ll still go out and play with a carefree attitude and enjoy the occasion. Just because we got a result at the Emirates doesn’t make us favourites by any stretch of the imagination.
“But it’s a great opportunity to test ourselves against fantastic individuals and a fantastic team again and apply ourselves in front of the national media.”
Leeds worked tirelessly to restrict the Londoners to limited chances at the Emirates.
After Snodgrass had kept his cool to convert a 54th-minute penalty, Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny denied Leeds a second goal from Luciano Becchio’s point-blank header.
Grayson said: “We’ve earned the right to do that after the result at the Emirates, where we played very well. We showed a lot of good qualities and a determination not to get beat so we’ve earned a night at Elland Road in front of 40,000 fans.
“My players will go in as underdogs again as they should do against a top Arsenal team, but it’s a game where we can just go and enjoy ourselves and hopefully have no regrets.
“The crowd will be hugely important. I’m not sure if many of the Arsenal players will be aware of the atmosphere at Elland Road tomorrow night, but I’m sure when they come out five or six minutes before kick-off they’ll realise what it’s all about.”
Arsenal proved fallible against Championship side Ipswich last week in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final and must overturn a 1-0 deficit in next week’s return.
Grayson, whose chances of recruiting the two extra players he feels his squad needs will be boosted by the replay receipts, added: “We won’t take anything from that. The one thing it does show us is that they can lose football matches as can any other team in the world.
“But they’ve had a result at the weekend. They’ve chopped and changed their side over the last few weeks so we don’t know what to expect in terms of who’s going to be playing.
“But whatever team they put out, they’ll have some great players. That’s why we’ll rise to the occasion and we’ll see where it gets us come 10 o’clock tomorrow night.”
Wojciech Szczesny will again be in goal for Arsenal as Lukasz Fabianski remains sidelined with a shoulder problem.
Right-back Bacary Sagna is available after completing a three-match ban and winger Tomas Rosicky is expected back after a virus. Midfielder Aaron Ramsey could make his first Arsenal appearance since recovering from a broken leg, while Nicklas Bendtner may get another chance in attack.
