The 5th round of the F.A Cup kicks off this weekend while the draw for the 6th round will be made on Sunday. So when Arsenal take to the field on monday night to finish their 4th round tie, they would know the identities of their next two potential opponents. Although, before the team can look too far ahead they need to ensure a safe passage into the 5th round at the expense of last season’s F.A Cup runners up.

One of the charms about the F.A Cup is that it gives lower league teams to make a name for themselves by that one moment of magic to knock out a top level team. There are players from the big Premier League clubs who make more in a week than some of the players involved in the F.A Cup make in a year. Yet the games act as an equalizer of sorts and provide a chance for some previously unheard of player to step out of the shadows. Ofcourse, it is also important that when such a magical moment arrives the tv camera is focussed on the game itself and not cut away to some commercial lest the player’s moment of glory be missed in real time

Each year the F.A Cup also cycles nostalgia about past glories as the tv channels run highlights of previous key goals and moments. While there are some teams who have to look back decades for their last triumph, Arsenal’s glory years are only a few years back in the history books. Between 2001-2005 Arsenal reached 4 of the 5 F.A Cup finals winning three trophies. Arsenal’s last trophy is still the F.A Cup earned thanks to Lehmann’s penalty save and Patrick Vieira’s final kick for the team.

The above video certainly brings back memories of seeing some of those Arsenal greats and also witnessing the future in the form of Cesc and Van Persie getting a taste of the action. The 1990’s were not that shabby either as Arsenal collected two F.A Cups. But considering the changes that have happened at Arsenal over the last three seasons, those F.A Cup glory years are threatening to fade into a distant memory.

While the current Arsenal team are young, they are not that young to not remember those stellar Arsenal F.A Cup performances from a few years ago. Maybe the current squad are only looking at the 2005 F.A Cup final and taking the 0-0 score-line as their target. But the team should look at the years prior to 2005 for some inspiration. Scoring one goal in their last 4 games is certainly a fall from grace given previous standards set by Wenger’s squads. And that is even a notch below George Graham’s standards as his team thrived on “1-0 to the Arsenal”. So when monday comes, hopefully goals will also come for Arsenal. But before Arsenal’s game, there are some other interesting F.A Cup games on tap.