Will Arsenal be able to avoid cup upset?

After a disappointing Thursday night of football, Arsenal return to action against Portsmouth in the FA Cup. Mikel Arteta will want his team competing in all four competitions and are positioning themselves well for exactly that. The Liverpool game wasn’t a setback, more along the lines of not being able to take advantage. However, they have to put that game behind them and look forward. Portsmouth, at Fratton Park, will be a noisy occasion. However, it’s a challenge that Arsenal should overcome.

Form

Portsmouth sit 21st in the Championship. They’ve played 24 games and sit on 25 points. This is important because they have a game, sometimes two games in hand on the surrounding opponents. If they were to win their next couple of games, they could sit on 31 points, the 18th placed team sit on 31 points currently. Essentially, they could be better off when they play their games in hand. They have been better recently, only losing once in five games. That run includes two wins and two draws. However, their most recent fixture saw Portsmouth lose 5-0 away to Bristol City.

Despite the 5-0 battering, Portsmouth don’t have a bad defensive record. 7 teams have conceded more goals and three teams have conceded 35, the same figure as Portsmouth. Pompey’s problem is scoring goals. In the league, only one team have scored less than the 21 goals they’ve registered. Sheffield Wednesday, who are bottom. Essentially, Portsmouth have improved recently, but still have fundamental issues.

Injuries/Absences

John Mousinho has a real issue with injuries at the moment. As many as eight players fill the injury list, with two doubts. Callum Lang, Connor Ogilvie, Florian Bianchini, Josh Knight, Josh Murphy, Hayden Matthews, Mark Kosznovsky and Thomas Waddingham are all out. Looking at certain metrics it seems all these players impact this squad in one way or another. Josh Murphy, Jacob Murphy of Newcastle’s brother, is the highest rated in the squad in terms of match rating. Murphy also has the best record for goals and assists combined. Marlon Pack and Colby Bishop could return for Portsmouth, following their injuries. But, if they’re doubts then they will be without their starting striker and creative engine in midfield.

Portsmouth Predicted Lineup

It’s hard to work out what Portsmouth will do given their injury crisis. It’s not even clear if Pack and Bishop will be back, more of a hope. They tend to play a 4-2-3-1, but switched to a 3-4-3 when they faced Bristol City the other day. They lost 5-0, so I don’t think that formation will be revisited. It’s interesting to note that a former Arsenal academy prospect could be in the starting lineup. Zak Swanson never made an appearance for the first team and left in July 2022.

Arsenal Predicted Lineup

Much like Portsmouth, I genuinely don’t know what Mikel Arteta will go with. So, this is the team I’d like to see. Kepa Arrizabalaga is our cup keeper seemingly. Josh Nichols has featured for the first team in the past and put in a respectable performance. White has been back for a couple of games now, so I think he’ll be ready to start. Marli Salmon has a big future and this could be a fantastic opportunity for him. Myles Lewis-Skelly kind of has no choice given injuries to Piero Hincapie and Riccardo Calafiori. Christian Norgaard is the ideal replacement for Martin Zubimendi. Mikel Merino can swap in for Declan Rice, he’s competent enough in that role. Noni Madueke hasn’t played loads of football recently, so he could get a full 90 minutes here. Ethan Nwaneri has played next to no football and I’d really like to see him out there again. Eberechi Eze can provide that star studded quality. Andre Harriman-Annous is a wildcard, but I thought he lead the line well against Brighton in the EFL Cup. It seems like Kai Havertz will be in the squad for the game tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll see him grab some minutes. We’ll likely have all our big hitters on the bench. However, I’d only really use Gabriel Martinelli, Viktor Gyokeres, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard. Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, Gabriel, Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice just need to be fully rested or left unused.

Predicted Result: Portsmouth 0-2 Arsenal

We should be beating Portsmouth even without their injury crisis, but with it, we should be comfortably winning. We need to ride the atmosphere, as they’ll make it a cauldron. We need to avoid getting them riled up. Be professional, decisive and intelligent. We don’t need to hammer them like Manchester City did with Exeter, any win is a pathway to the next round. Hopefully some fringe players can get some good minutes under their belts. Let’s get it!