Artificial Pitch A Concern To Wenger In FA Cup Match Arsenal will play National League side Sutton United in the FA Cup fifth rou...
Artificial Pitch A Concern To Wenger In FA Cup Match
Arsenal will play National League side
Sutton United in the FA Cup fifth round and the artificial pitch that
awaits Arsenal is worrisome to Wenger.
Arsenal will face the non-league Sutton at the Gander Green Lane and will play on a 3G surface .
The Gunners beat Preston North End and Southampton to make it to this stage of the competition and are coming off a 5-1 loss to Bayern Munich in the UCL.
“Ideally we would like to play on a normal pitch,” Wenger told The Guardian. “But it has been accepted so … competition is also about dealing with what you face. We face an artificial pitch and we have to deal with it.”
The Gunners have trained on an artificial 3G pitch at their London Colney training centre as preparation for Monday’s encounter, but Wenger doesn’t expect a similar surface at Gander Green Lane.
“It’s not the same because it’s a dry pitch and I’ve heard that Sutton have a wet pitch. They water it before the game so it’ll be much quicker,” he said. “It means the weight on the joints is stronger, you cannot glide, you have to block every time.
“So it makes football a bit different because the ball comes to you and somebody accelerates and doesn’t slow down like in a normal game, so you have to get used to the difference
Arsenal will face the non-league Sutton at the Gander Green Lane and will play on a 3G surface .
The Gunners beat Preston North End and Southampton to make it to this stage of the competition and are coming off a 5-1 loss to Bayern Munich in the UCL.
“Ideally we would like to play on a normal pitch,” Wenger told The Guardian. “But it has been accepted so … competition is also about dealing with what you face. We face an artificial pitch and we have to deal with it.”
The Gunners have trained on an artificial 3G pitch at their London Colney training centre as preparation for Monday’s encounter, but Wenger doesn’t expect a similar surface at Gander Green Lane.
“It’s not the same because it’s a dry pitch and I’ve heard that Sutton have a wet pitch. They water it before the game so it’ll be much quicker,” he said. “It means the weight on the joints is stronger, you cannot glide, you have to block every time.
“So it makes football a bit different because the ball comes to you and somebody accelerates and doesn’t slow down like in a normal game, so you have to get used to the difference
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