Arsene Wenger has admitted he will have to gamble on the FA Cup because of Arsenal’s figure pile-up.
Wenger says he plans to “rotate” his line-up at Nottingham Forest on Sunday but is expected to field a stronger team for the Carabao Cup semi final at Chelsea next Wednesday.
The FA Cup has been Wenger’s salvation during his Arsenal reign as he won it for a record seventh time in May and that helped him stay for another two year contract.
Wenger will have to hedge his bets at Forest and plans to use David Ospina in goal, hinted Ainsley Maitland-Niles might play in midfield and is likely to pick a mix-and-match XI similar to what he has done in the Europa League.
But Wenger insists that the big clubs do still take the FA Cup seriously even though many of them will rest and rotate after the busy festive fixture schedule.
Gunners boss Wenger said: “We have five or six players injured and I take this game very seriously and it is a difficult game.
“But we have Sunday, Wednesday and the following Sunday against Bournemouth. So we have four days between Chelsea and Forest so that is (not) quite ideal and after it will be shorter between Sunday and Wednesday.
“Some players who played against Chelsea (last Wednesday) will play on Sunday. But last season we played City in the semi and Chelsea in the final. That means the big teams don’t give up the FA Cup.
“When a team is not fighting to go down and think, do we have as chance to win the FA Cup? Or do we absolutely focus completely to stay in the league? Sometimes that can come in. But the big teams they go for it.
“That's why the Championship teams are more difficult to play sometimes than a Premier League coming out of a Christmas period.
“The Championship teams are prepared to fight for it and the Premier League teams sometimes seems a little bit off as they have given everything in the Premier League.”
Wenger insists that all of his youngsters and fringe players understand the cup is still special and he will be able to appease Colombian keeper Ospina who wants games ahead of the World Cup.
Wenger added: “They think it's important as they have experienced us winning the cup in the last four years. We have won it three times. So they have experienced that and seen how special it is.
“I don't see a difference with the guys who have played more in the Premier League than the guys who have played in the Europa League. It's true that some of them have a bit of a harder life as they want to play as well.
“I rate their contribution and I rate them as players as high as the guys who play. But I have to make decisions. That's the kind of problems that every manager has.
“Ospina plays. On Sunday and on Wednesday (in the Carabao Cup). He's not happy and not unhappy. He gets games and important games.
“It's a possibility. It's his preferred position but at the moment I have (Sead) Kolasinac out, (Nacho) Monreal out and I don't have much choice on the left side unless I play another young boy in Josh Da Silva. I haven't made that decision yet.”
Arsenal (probable): Ospina; Chambers, Mertesacker, Holding; Debuchy, Coquelin, Elneny, Maitland-Niles; Iwobi, Walcott, Welbeck.