THE biggest frustration of the last ten years for Arsene Wenger is that he never knows when his players will go missing.
Unless they are playing in a Wembley cup tie.
Then he can pretty much put his house on the fact that every one of them will turn up with a big performance.
That is what he is banking on tomorrow, when Arsenal will kick off as rank outsiders against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final.
They currently trail Pep Guardiola’s runaway leaders by a staggering 27 points in the Premier League and are still reeling from Thursday’s Europa League defeat by Ostersunds.
Yet Wenger believes it is exactly the kind of backs-to-the-wall situation which brings the very best out of his flaky stars.
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ARSENE WENGER can become only the eighth boss to win England’s domestic Treble if Arsenal beat Manchester City tomorrow. Here, OSCAR PAUL looks at the others to have achieved the feat.
DON REVIE
Turned trophyless Second Division Leeds into one of the giants of the game in 13 years at the club before becoming England manager in 1974.
League (69, 74), FA Cup (72), League Cup (68).
KENNY DALGLISH
Dalglish took over as player-manager at Anfield after a successful playing career and was boss for six years. Returned to win the League Cup.
League (86, 88, 90, 95), FA Cup (86, 89), League Cup (12).
JOE MERCER
After spells at Sheffield United and Aston Villa, the ex-England player led Manchester City to their second league title and fourth FA Cup.
League (68), FA Cup (69), League Cup (61, 70).
GEORGE GRAHAM
Based on a strong defence, Graham led the Gunners to their first league title in 18 years, following up with another two years later.
League (89, 91), FA Cup (93), League Cup (87, 93, 99).
BILL NICHOLSON
After 17 years as a player at Spurs, Nicholson led the club to the Double in 1960/61, the first by an English team in the 20th Century.
League (61), FA Cup (61, 62, 67), League Cup (71, 73).
JOSE MOURINHO
The Special One shook up the elite, winning back-to-back league titles at Chelsea before returning to claim his third Prem crown in 2015.
League (05, 06, 15), FA Cup (07), League Cup (05, 07, 15, 17).
ALEX FERGUSON
Turned Manchester United into the dominant force in English football over 27 years at the helm.
League (93, 94, 96, 97, 99, 00, 01, 03, 07, 08, 09, 11, 13), FA Cup 90, 94, 96, 99, 04), League Cup (92, 06, 09, 10).
He conceded: “Because Manchester City are so dominating in the league, we are even bigger underdogs now than we were against them in last season’s FA Cup semi-final.
“But the history shows that we beat them before, so why not do it again?
“The pressure in these games is always immense. Last year we beat City in the semi-final and then came up against a Chelsea team who had the opportunity to win the Double.
“It was absolutely difficult for us to win the FA Cup last season but the fact that we did it shows that on the day we turned up with the right spirit, mentality and belief.
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“Of course, you have to be motivated when you play in a final but you also need to find the right balance and be relaxed enough to play your game.
“The advantage of playing in so many finals is that I know how big a day it is.
“Wembley is always special because the stadium is divided in two by the supporters and, no matter how many finals you have played in, you will always have tension and nerves.
“Everybody expects a very exciting game and I think that will be the case this time because we have two good teams who will both go for it.
“So what matters the most is that we go into the final with absolute desire to win it, that we perform on the day and go home having done our job well.”
Before their recent Premier League defeat by Spurs, Arsenal had won their previous nine games at Wembley.
In 2014 they clawed their way past Wigan in the FA Cup semi-final on penalties and came from two goals down to beat Hull in the final.
And last year they stopped champions Chelsea in their tracks despite fielding a team decimated by injuries and suspension.
Victory tomorrow would give Wenger admission to an elite group of managers who have won the Grand Slam of the title, FA Cup and League Cup.
Only Don Revie, Joe Mercer, Bill Nicholson, George Graham, Sir Alex Ferguson, Kenny Dalglish and Jose Mourinho have lifted all three domestic trophies.
And Wenger believes he does not get anything like the credit he deserves for consistently delivering silverware to Arsenal at a time when the competition has never been fiercer.
He said: “These trophies are very difficult to win and the simple fact is that nobody has won the FA Cup more times than us.
“Look at the big clubs, for example. How many times have Liverpool won the FA Cup in their entire history? Seven. We have won it seven times in the last 20 years.
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“Over the last five or six years, there have been so many top teams competing for every competition. You could even see how important it was to win the trophy when we played Chelsea in the Community Shield this season.”
Of the Arsenal team which beat City in last year’s FA Cup semi- final, Alexis Sanchez, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Olivier Giroud and Gabriel have all been sold, while Petr Cech and Rob Holding will both start on the subs’ bench tomorrow.
Wenger admitted: “We beat them because we restricted them to very few chances.
“And once again we have to limit the service to Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne.”
The Frenchman is only too aware that City have already scored 111 times this season and is tempted to play a more defensive 4-4-1-1 formation to combat that attacking threat.
Mohamed Elneny is likely to be included in the starting line-up to give greater midfield protection to Arsenal’s dodgy defence, which could mean disappointment for Alex Iwobi if Aaron Ramsey passes a late fitness test.
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