Twelve months ago I watched Arsenal salvage a draw to then beat Wigan on penalties to progress to a record equalling 18th FA Cup final. On that day, it was the introduction of Giroud for Podolski that had made me sit up and focus. There was no way Sanogo or Giroud were going to play on the left so it was clear Wenger was going to play with two up top – desperate times. And then Mertesacker scored. Twelve months later and Arsenal are in a similar situation in both the league and the cup but there’s a key difference. Last time around Arsenal had the weight of expectation exacerbated by a long trophy drought, a litany of big match defeats behind them and a...
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