Arsenal will take on Watford in a FA Cup quarter-final clash at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday. Arsenal are coming into this fixture after handing a 4-0 drubbing to Hull City, who frustrated the Gunners in the first leg of the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Arsene Wenger and his men came back to winning ways against Hull City after suffering a defeat in the hands of Barcelona in the Champions League, Manchester United and Swansea City in the English Premier League (EPL) and a draw against Tottenham Hotspur.
The FA Cup quarter-final clash against Watford will be a crucial encounter as the Gunners will look to secure a win and carry on with the winning momentum, before they fly to Camp Nou for their second leg of the Champions League -- round of 16 fixture against Barcelona on March 17.
Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott were instrumental in bringing back Arsenal to winning ways. Both Giroud and Walcott scored two goals each against Hull City. Giroud has now scored 22 goals in all competitions and he will look to add more to that tally.
Arsenal manager, who has been under pressure, believes that Giroud will come good in the upcoming games.
"Look, it is a weight on the shoulders when the players don't score. So the fact that they score will of course take that weight off. Overall, I am pleased that [Giroud and Walcott] scored. But it is a bit cyclic always, especially for Giroud. Giroud has cycles so it was a weight off his shoulders," Wenger was quoted as saying by the official website of Arsenal.
"You know this season for example, he has had games where he has gone boom, boom, boom, boom, boom and after he had a little spell where he didn't score. Now I hope he has a repetition of his former spell and starts to score again."
"Between what he says and what is real, even I don't really know what is going in there. You know that if you don't score and you are a striker, somewhere you are not happy."
Meanwhile, Watford have lost two games in a row, in which they put up spirited shows against Premier League leaders Leicester City and Manchester United.
If they want to progress to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, then they will have to overcome the Arsenal challenge.
Hornets' Head Coach Quique Sanchez Flores feels that they can outclass the Gunners and make it to the last four of the tournament if his boys play their best football against Wenger's men.
"We are happy with the idea to play there against Arsenal. It'll be a very tough match but it's a big opportunity to play in the Quarter-Finals of the FA Cup. It's a good experience for us, we'll have maybe 9,000 fans following us so we'll have a lot of reasons to try to play well," Flores was quoted as saying by the official website of the Hornets.
"The last time I was there [the Emirates Stadium] it was with Valencia a very long time ago, but to come back to this type of stadium it's a great opportunity for the team and for the players to show everyone they are ready to have an amazing performance."
"We had a very close experience against Manchester United playing at Old Trafford, and now the players are completely ready to get to a good level again. For sure, Arsenal will try also to win, but it's just one match, everything's possible."
Probable XI's:
Arsenal: Ospina; Chambers, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Gibbs; Elneny, Coquelin, Campbell, Iwobi, Walcott; Giroud.
Watford: Pantilimon; Nyom, Prodl, Britos, Holebas; Amrabat, Abdi, Behrami, Capoue; Deeney, Ighalo.
Where to Watch Live
Arsenal vs Watford is set to begin at 7 p.m. IST (1:30 p.m. GMT and 9:30 a.m. ET). Live coverage of the FA Cup quarter-final match in India will be on Sony Six and Sony Six HD. Sonyliv is the live streaming online option for viewers in India and the rest of South Asia.
BT Sport 2 will broadcast the FA Cup quarter-final live in the UK, while all the action can also be live streamed on Watch BT Sport. BBC Radio 5 Live is the radio option for listeners in the UK.
Viewers in Singapore can flip their remotes to Eleven, while Arsenal vs Watford will be shown live in China and Hong Kong on LeTV.
Bein Sports will broadcast the match live in the Middle East, France and North Africa, with the live streaming option on Bein Sports Connect.
Viewers in the US can watch Arsenal vs Watford live on Fox Sports 1, while the action can be live streamed on FoxSoccer2Go.
Sportsnet World and Watch Sportsnet will broadcast the FA Cup game live in Canada.
ESPN will broadcast the match live in Australia, with the live stream option on ESPN Player.
Arsenal Player will live stream the FA Cup quarter-final match worldwide.
