Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger comes up against his nemesis, Michael Laudrup of Swansea in the FA Cup

The Premier League takes a back seat this weekend as the world’s oldest knock out competition, the FA Cup takes centre stage with the ‘big boys’ joining the fray in the Third Round.

With 32 games being played over the next 72 hours fans should be in for a fiesta of football, however, there are still a number of stand out games especially involving Premier League sides with none more so than the Liberty Stadium showdown between Swansea and Arsenal.

A highly disappointed Arsene Wenger expressed his ‘frustration and disappointed’ after his Gunners laboured to a 1-1 draw with Southampton in the league at the weekend and could be in for more anguish in the knock out competition tomorrow against a side that stunned them 2-0 at the Emirates last month!

Michael Laudrup’s team will go into the encounter on a descent run suffering only one defeat in their last eight matches in all competitions. On the other hand the Gunners have also lost once (the shocking penalty defeat to Bradford City in the League Cup) since their stunning home loss to Swansea on December 1.

However, with Arsenal desperate to end their long wait for a trophy, Wenger knows that this (FA Cup) might be their best chance of rectifying this and should thus field a team all fired up to achieve this.

Some other intriguing games taking place are: Southampton hosting Cup holders, Chelsea, West Ham v Manchester United, Brighton v Newcastle, Man City v Watford and QPR v West Brom.