Arsenal vs Leeds: 5 key players to keep Cup run alive

Arsenal’s FA Cup run takes them up against Leeds United, who sit top in the Championship. Here are five players to keep the run alive.

Arsenal finally get a break to rest some key players with the hectic holiday fixture list behind them. And with the January transfer window open, a clean sheet win against Manchester United, and Mikel Arteta in charge, there’s a lot to be excited about.

Going deeper into the FA Cup will only add to that. And for now, that means we’re going up against Leeds United, who sit top of the Championship, despite hitting a shoddy run of form in recent fixtures.

Conveniently, there are a lot of players returning from injury and thus available for selection here, which will give a lot of players the necessary rest time that they’ve needed so badly. Injuries have laid claim to Calum Chambers and Sead Kolasinac lately, just to name a couple, but the returning players will bolster the ranks.

And with Mikel Arteta in charge, I’m just excited to see more of him getting the best out of every player, which now includes some players I’m extra excited to see maximized under the new manager.

I’m figuring a similar 4-2-3-1, like Arteta typically uses. Which takes us into our five key players to see this match through to it’s happy ending. We start with No. 5.

5. Shkodran Mustafi

Of all the places that need a bit of rest, the defense reigns supreme. Since we have only just had Rob Holding returned to health, we’ve been stuck with Sokratis, David Luiz and Shkodran Mustafi, and it looked to be that way for the foreseeable future, again, until Holding came back.

That said, Sokratis and Luiz are due for a break, which gives Mustafi another chance to get back into the action.

Last we saw him, he was making arguably the worst decision I’ve ever seen a defender make against Chelsea, so no doubt he will want to get back into better fettle. Plus, coming off a United clean sheet via Sokratis and Luiz, we really need to see some defensive hope from players beyond that duo.

Moving on to No. 4.