In his regular column Gary Neville discusses how the FA Cup is viewed by the elite.
The top four teams in the Premier League are still competing on numerous fronts and having been drawn against one another, do they look to prioritise?
The FA Cup fifth round draw between Arsenal/Liverpool and Manchester City/Chelsea are ones that those clubs would not have wanted. Losing against your rivals, even though it’s not in the league, still has that psychological effect at this time in the year. I think that is why all four teams will treat it with the utmost respect as they know that it could have lasting implications. I have never seen a team that benefitted through losing football matches and no team ever wants to lose in order to concentrate on another competition. The idea of losing football matches and having a free week doesn’t make sense – the loss of momentum and the psychological impact of losing has a huge effect.
If you take their last two results against Liverpool and Manchester United into consideration, I’m just not sure that Arsenal have got what it takes to be able to compete on all three of their remaining fronts. Arsène Wenger hasn’t got the depth or the power of a Manchester City or Chelsea squads and it’s a tough ask for them to win the title. We’re all aware it has been nine trophy-less years for Arsenal, so he needs to make sure that they try to win a competition, and the FA Cup, you could argue, is his best chance.
Gary Neville was speaking in his fortnightly column for EA SPORTS FIFA 14 Ultimate Team. Read the full column at http://bit.ly/1jfyarO
