Wenger: No room for complacency

11 April 2014 15:47

Manager Arsene Wenger knows Arsenal cannot afford to underestimate Wigan in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

Uwe Rosler's side knocked out Manchester City away in the last eight and have moved up into the Championship play-off places.

Having seen first hand the inability of his own team to play up to their favourites tag when suffering a shock defeat in the 2011 Carling Cup final against Birmingham on their last visit to Wembley, Wenger will certainly not be taking anything for granted.

He said: "We are favourites, yes, but it doesn't mean you win. You win when you produce a quality performance.

"We have, in this competition, produced top-quality performances.

"We are in the semi-final of the FA Cup - you cannot say that we have been invited to play there.

"We have beaten all the teams we have been confronted with by producing top-level performances, so let's just continue with that on Saturday."

Arsenal will hand fitness tests to midfielders Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (groin) and Tomas Rosicky (thigh) as well as full-back Kieran Gibbs (ankle).

Midfielder Mathieu Flamini is suspended, so fit-again Wales midfielder Aaron Ramsey is expected to start and as in previous rounds Lukas Fabianski will play in goal ahead of regular number one Wojciech Szczesny.

Centre-half Laurent Koscielny (calf), midfielder Serge Gnabry (knee), Germany international Mesut Ozil (hamstring), England midfielder Jack Wilshere (foot) are all still recovering, as are Abou Diaby and Theo Walcott (both knee).

Wigan are prepared to take a leaf out of former manager Roberto Martinez's book once more as Rosler plots Arsenal's downfall.

The Gunners head to Wembley with their confidence shredded by a 3-0 defeat to Martinez's Everton on Sunday.

It was a loss which Rosler admitted provided him with "good pictures" ahead of his own side's last-four meeting with Wenger's team this weekend.

"I watched the game last Sunday and it was another very impressive lesson from Roberto, tactically how Everton approached the game," said the German.

"Not a lot of people focused on how disciplined and how focused Everton Football Club operated in the first 20-25 minutes without the ball.

"Everybody knows Roberto is focused on ball possession but how well the team worked against the ball at the beginning of the game was very impressive.

"There were good pictures for me to learn from and also take one or two things on board, like I did with Manchester City in the last round."

Rosler faces a decision over who to select as his goalkeeper. Scott Carson was recalled in the midweek loss to Millwall and started in the quarter-final win over City, but is not certain of getting the nod ahead of Rosler's usual first choice Ali Al Habsi.

Source: PA