Arsenal legend Ian Wright has tipped Africa's most expensive player
in history, Nicolas Pepe to start ahead of Bukayo Saka in this
evening's FA Cup showdown between the Gunners and Chelsea at Wembley.
Wright
wants Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta to start with an experienced front
three, with Alexandre Lacazette flanked by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and
Pepe, which would see exciting youngsters Saka and Eddie Nketiah drop
to the bench.
Saka has featured in 38 games across
all competitions this term, of which 29 were starts with three of them
coming in the FA Cup in matches against Bournemouth, Portsmouth and
Sheffield United.
"I think he’ll probably
go with experience because I think if you start Saka or Eddie – and this
is just my opinion – it wouldn’t surprise me if he started Saka because
he seems like he can deal with anything and it’s the same with Eddie,
they look like they can probably deal with anything," Wright said to Arseblog (via Metro UK).
"But
if you start a young player in a final like this and it’s not going
right and they have to get substituted somewhere along the line, it
could have some damage there with people and how they may judge their
character in respects of a big game."
He added :
"I think to start for this one, depending on how Chelsea start because
they could fly out the blocks and really try and blast us, I think it
wouldn’t be a bad thing to go with experience so he probably would go
with Pepe, Lacazette and Aubameyang."
Last season, Hale End Academy product Saka was a non-playing substitute as Arsenal lost to Chelsea in the Europa League final.
Igho Kingsley
Photo Credit : arsenal.com
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January 29, 2026
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