FA Cup preview: Orient keen to steamroll Gunners

Leyton Orient travel to Arsenal on Wednesday night in a FA Cup fifth-round replay looking to inflict more heartache on the Gunners.

Orient, who sit 11th in League One, will face a fired-up Arsenal side seeking revenge after they let a chance to snap their six-year trophy drought slip when Birmingham City shocked them 2-1 in the Carling Cup final on Sunday.

“I think they’re more dangerous now they’re wounded,” Orient boss Russell Slade said.

“He’s (Wenger) got an excellent group. Good management and good players come to the fore, which is what they’ve got. The defeat will galvanise them. We’ve shown great focus in recent weeks and we need to continue that whether we win or lose.”

Slade will take encouragement from Birmingham’s display in the Carling Cup final as well as the displays of Championship high-flyers Leeds United and League One promotion contenders Huddersfield Town, who have both nearly produced shocks at the Emirates Stadium in the FA Cup this season.

Leyton Orient will have a host of players missing, with Tottenham loanee Harry Kane ruled out through suspension while Steve Dawson, Matt Spring, Jason Crowe and first-leg hero Jonathan Tehoue are all in doubt with injury concerns.

Arsenal will be without Dutch striker Robin van Persie, who injured his knee in the final, while key first-teamers Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Thomas Vermaelen are all still absent with hamstring, ankle and Achilles concerns respectively.

Meanwhile, Reading manager Brian McDermott is hopeful his side can repeat their upset win at Liverpool against the club’s city rivals Everton in a fifth-round tie on Tuesday.

“We know we’ve been to a massive club and won there before,” McDermott told the Reading Post.

“This is the same again and we know we’re capable (of beating Everton). Defensively we have to be right, but we have to attack the game at Goodison as well. We’re not going to go and sit back, because that’s not in our nature.”

But Reading, who sit 10th in the Championship, will face an Everton side keen to build on their terrific fourth-round replay victory at Stamford Bridge and are likely to progress.

On Wednesday, Aston Villa travel to Manchester City hoping to replicate their win against Roberto Mancini’s side in January.

On that occasion Darren Bent scored the game’s only goal and Villa head into the match in good form, having lost just one of their last seven Premier League fixtures with Robert Pires being particularly inspirational in the club’s 4-1 win over the Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.

But City’s failure to defeat Fulham at home on Sunday means they are now 10 points behind Premier League table-toppers and arch-rivals Manchester United and Mancini will see the FA Cup as his side’s big chance to break their massive trophy drought, which ticked over to 35 years on Monday.