Cardiff are a useful team with a rabid crowd.
Ninian Park will be a cauldron, so the visitors will need to be somewhere near their best.
Having played Portsmouth at Wembley in May 2008, Cardiff have been in the FA Cup final more recently than Arsenal, who won it in 2005 in a penalty shoot-out.
But Arsenal’s pace and skill should see them through, even with Clichy suspended. It will only be a cauldron until the first goal. It depends which Arsenal turns up and who scores first. I can imagine Cardiff scoring from a header but I can also imagine Arsenal scoring two goals in the last ten minutes
Seriously, Cardiff is a game Arsenal should win 2-0. They need the FA Cup. They have to win something this season. It’s only six matches and Arsenal can win six matches. They chucked the FA Cup last season, infuriating the 9,000 fans who went to Old Trafford to support them and saw Arsenal hammered 4-0.
That was my worst day in football, in my whole life.
And I don’t mean the day of the game. I mean the day BEFORE the game. I knew Wenger was gonna chuck that game and I thought it would be horrible. But the day before the game was far worse than actually watching Arsenal get smashed 4-0 in Manchester. I was VERY annoyed all day long and I’ve never had that experience before. Chucking the FA Cup at Old Trafford was a big mistake by the manager and one that will haunt him for a long, long time. He lost 9,000 admirers that day.
I reckon Aaron Ramsey will play and score against his old club.
Financially, it’s a good game for Cardiff, as they will get an extra £160,000 from live TV. Arsenal also get 160K.
In the Third Round, Cardiff beat Reading 2-0 with goals by Ross McCormack and captain Joe Ledley.West Ham have just offered £4 million for Ledley and been told to double their offer.