Arsenal to win FA Cup
With Champions League and English Premier League titles still seemingly way beyond the team, Arsenal are again relying on an FA Cup triumph to salvage some silverware from their season.
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For the second straight year, Arsenal head into the final of the world's oldest club competition as the big favourite against a team that has ended the season fighting against relegation from the Premier League.
In 2014, it was Hull. Tomorrow, Aston Villa will provide the opposition at Wembley Stadium — and the pressure on Arsenal will be nowhere near as intense as 12 months ago.
On that occasion, Arsenal were looking to end a nine-year trophy drought, and the burden appeared to suffocate the team as it went 2-0 down after eight minutes. Arsenal recovered to take the game to extra time and Aaron Ramsey's 109th-minute goal clinched the trophy.
It should be a more serene Arsenal that arrives at England's national stadium this time round.
Wenger has some history to make, too.
An Arsenal win would give Wenger a sixth FA Cup winner's medal, a feat no manager has achieved since the Second World War. George Ramsay is the only previous manager to have won the FA Cup six times, and the last of his victories came in 1920.
Arsenal are seeking back-to-back FA Cup titles for the third time in 23 years, and to win the revered trophy for the fifth time in 14 years.
Villa will be no pushover, though. The team might have finished the Premier League last Sunday just one place above the relegation zone but Tim Sherwood has revitalised Villa since taking over as manager in February, when it was in the bottom three and on a 10-match winless run.
Under Sherwood, Villa has a new-found zip in midfield and powerful striker Christian Benteke is back to his menacing best. Villa was a worthy winner against Liverpool at Wembley in the semifinals and seemed to relish the big occasion. — AP