Danny Welbeck, Arsenal, Sutton United, FA Cup, fifth round
Reuters

Danny Welbeck will not take his place in the matchday squad for Arsenal when they visit Sutton United in the FA Cup fifth round on Monday.

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Welbeck, making his return from a long-term injury, will not be risked by Arsene Wenger owing to the fact that the FA Cup pre-quarterfinal match will be played on an artificial pitch.

The England international, in order to get some match time, instead played in Arsenal's U-23 match against Leicester on Sunday, starting up front in a 2-1 defeat.

"Glad to get 70 minutes today to build up my match fitness," Welbeck, who starred for Arsenal in their FA Cup fourth round match against Southampton, tweeted after the match. "Plastic pitch at Sutton isn't the best idea at the moment."

The idea for Wenger for this match, though, will be to get a win, preferably with a bit of panache.

After suffering that sooner-forgotten-the-better defeat to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League last Wednesday, a loss that led to widespread calls for Wenger to resign at the end of the season, what Arsenal need is a victory to move on and try and get their season back on course.

"I always had in my head that it was a very important game," Wenger said of the Sutton match. "In my head I have had a team that will start and play there, for a week or 10 days now. That result we had at Bayern Munich will not influence that selection.

"The FA Cup is one of our targets. It's the next game and for us to bounce back after the game we just had, it becomes a very important game. But it always was, in my head."

Wenger will rest Alexis Sanchez, while Laurent Koscielny will not feature after picking up an injury in the Bayern match. Mesut Ozil is another player who could be taken off the firing line by Wenger.

Reaching the fifth round in itself is a fairytale for non-league side Sutton, who have quite a few former Arsenal players in their lineup. So, the likes of Craig Eastmond, Jeffrey Monakana, Roarie Deacon and Jack Jebb will be keen to make an impression.

Expected playing XI: Sutton United: Worner; Amankwaah, Downer, Collins, Spence; Deacon, Eastmond, Bailey, May, Gomis; Biamou.

Arsenal: David Ospina; Debuchy, Gabriel, Holding, Gibbs; Elneny, Maitland-Niles; Walcott, Reine-Adelaide, Iwobi; Giroud.