The FA Cup remains the only hope for Arsenal to win a silverware this season. I say this because the Premier League is out of reach for the Gunners and the Champions League remains uncertain with a knockout match against AS Roma this month and given the North Londoners’ record in the elite European competition, Roma have their greatest chance of qualifying further. Yet I may be wrong but honestly get Cardiff City out of your way on Monday night and a quarter final home tie against another Championship side Burnley beckons(although this same side knocked Arsenal out of the Carling Cup) and from then on the road to Wembley gets more clear.

The FA Cup was the last trophy that Arsene Wenger’s boys tasted of real success and that was way back in 2005. We Arsenal fans cannot afford to be assured of false hopes anymore and the club must ensure that N5 is again capable of taking on the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool when it comes to winning silverwares, be it at the domestic level or at European stage. On the eve of Arsenal’s fourth round replay against the Bluebirds, Mr. Wenger has made it clear that his team must realize the need to raise the level of their game at this point of the season.

Yes, it was a fighting effort on Sunday as a ten-man Arsenal held off the challenge of arch enemy Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane yet one feels that scoring goals is a problem that must be addressed soon and with Emmanuel Adebayor out for three weeks, the responsibility falls on Van Persie and company to handle the responsibility.

New signing Andrei Arshavin is not eligible to play on Monday night yet given the high profile nature of his arrival at the Emirates, the fans want immediate impact from the boots of the mercurial Russian although it is never easy to adjust to the English conditions from the very beginning. But on a positive note Croatian Eduardo could be back among the thick of things come Monday night after recovering from a horrible leg injury.

Arsene Wenger knows that his team would underestimate Dave Jones’ Cardiff City at their own peril given what the Bluebirds achieved last season by qualifying for final of the FA Cup. The Welsh side would play with no fear given what they achieved at Ninian Park by easily holding off the Gunners and given the inconsistency attached with the Gunners at the Emirates since moving from Highbury, nothing can be taken as granted. Cardiff’s bitter rivals Swansea City has shown this season of the lower league clubs’ abilities to upset the big boys from the big league and the mentality is no different when it comes to the passion of the Bluebirds.

Football is a crazy old game and the French football ‘professor’ knows very well how a good Cup run changes the mentality of an inconsistent side like Arsenal. Arsenal’s young boys have a tendency to show their class against any side provided they have a good run on their back and a win against the Championship side tomorrow night would up the ante for a very important time of the season when the Champions League gets underway at the end of this month. Arsene Wenger realized this and he has already said that his team are on a good run given they are unbeaten in the last eleven games, albeit six draws included in that run. T

he Frenchman was quoted as saying, “We want to prepare well because we know it is a very important game for us and we need to focus. We are unbeaten in 11 matches and want to keep that going in every competition- the longer that lasts the stronger you will be. If the three draws put together don’t look good, then you must put the whole 11 games together and that looks like we are on a run.”