Arsenal vs Manchester United: How much do you want it?

Arsenal won’t have it easy against Manchester United, but it was the same against Chelsea. The big question is how much Unai Emery wants it.

Arsenal and the FA Cup are best of friends. They go way back. It became the standard of Arsene Wenger to show up in the competition and go deep into it, assuming Nottingham Forest didn’t get in the way.

So, needless to say, seeing Unai Emery do the same would ease a lot of the tension in the current state of the club. Not that there should be all that much tension anyway, but there is. That’s a fact, and a trophy is the best remedy for that such thing.

With Arsenal not returning to Premier League action until Tuesday, and against Cardiff City, Unai Emery has a lot of questions to ask himself going into the match against Manchester United. Generally, the FA Cup has been a place to let youth players have some fun, drive past lesser opponents, and spot the first-team, senior players a break.

But the first question Unai Emery needs to ask himself is how much he wants this competition. Because while we, the fans, would love to treat it as a priority, since it looks to be arguably our best chance to take home a trophy, Emery has to then acquiesce and make the transition from youth players to senior.

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Of course, I’m not the only one who wants to see youth feature heavily into the club as much as possible, because it could save a lot of stress in the coming transfer windows if we can just pull a bunch of 17-20 year olds and plug them into the necessary slots.

Which raises the question again – how much do you want this now? Is the current situation at the club enough to make Emery change the approach of letting youth players prove themselves in favor of winning a trophy in the here and now?

I’d have to say yes, it is. Not because of the situation at the club, and the contrived outrage from a lot of fans and talking heads, but because there is a real chance to win this competition and, that being the case, it should be taken seriously.

So get the senior players out there, take this seriously, have youth players in reserve to feature when possible, but don’t forfeit present success for hopes of future riches. Control what you can in the here and now.