So last night we learned of our opponents in the next round of the FA Cup, with Wigan confirmed as the visitors to The Emirates in February, which brings back all kinds of memories for me.

The first was that gawd-awful FA Cup semi-final in 2014. Going into it we were the favourites, we were easily the better team on paper, but it was a game in which the team felt the weight of expectation I think. We hadn’t won anything in years, everyone in the media had kept reminding us that, so the team put in a bit of a shocker, relying on now Head of Academy (albeit not for much longer) Big Per Mertesacker to head home for us on 81 minutes to bring the game to extra time. We scraped through on penalties and, as we all know, won the final having gone behind 2-0 to Hull. Whilst the season as a whole ended in silverware and joy, that particular game should be forgotten forever. We weren’t great, that’s for sure.

The next Wigan game that pops into my head is that one in which Emmanuel Ebour put in one of the biggest stinkers of all time, ending up being subbed off, having come on for Nasri in the first half. We won the game 1-0, but the home crowd booed Eboue off. While that wasn’t exactly the home fans’ finest moment, he indeed had one of the worst performances of all time. Even Wenger referenced it afterwards, saying, “Eboue played for longer than I wanted him to. His concentration dropped a little bit”.

For this final trip down memory lane, I’ll recall the wonder strike that Denny Landzaat scored at The Emirates in 2007. I was there and in the Clock End Upper that day (although I don’ think it was called that then) and was right in line with what was a pretty special finish. It was looking like Wigan would do a bit of a smash and grab that day, as we huffed and puffed, but couldn’t get any joy. But our old friend Own Goal got us level on 81, before Rosicky won it for us on 85, to ultimately send me happy.

I’ve recounted three uncomfortable games there, but our record against Wigan is pretty good, to be fair, with the Latics only ever having beaten us three times home and away in the head-to-head records. So you look at that game now and it very much feels as though it’s one that Arsenal should be getting a win from. Wigan are currently 15th in League One, having won seven, lost eight and drawn nine of their league matches so far this season. They sit level on points with Exeter – who have just lost 10-1 to 115 Charges FC – and one point above Barnsley, who lost last night to Liverpool. So this very much has to be a game that Arteta will look at as an opportunity for large-scale rotation I would have thought.

It will be played on 14th or 15th February, which will be sandwiched in between Brentford away and The Scum at home eight days later, which will – I’m sure – mean that Arteta can move his playing pieces around a bit and shuffle his pack slightly (sorry for the mixed metaphors!) in between what will be two tough away trips in the Premier League.

I think from a rotation perspective, it is good. Personally, I wouldn’t have minded going on a bit of an away day, but the deeper you go in this competition, the increased likelihood is that you will get that, so perhaps given the volume of games we have in the next four-to-six weeks, that will be beneficial to have this home game against an opponent that will afford rotation more like what we’ve just seen this weekend gone against Portsmouth.

The other bit of news from yesterday was that our old friend Big Per Mertesacker was announced to be leaving the club at the end of the season. The club put a statement up last night and I thought it was really interesting to see the response online. I assumed that this would be met with almost universal disappointment for a guy who was such a good player for us, who had been in the back office for the last eight years, for who so many speak so highly of as being a nice guy, bringing a ‘human’ side to the academy. Yet I did see a fair few voices saying that we could do better. Perhaps that’s true. I don’t think anyone would say that our approach to the loan system has been particularly well executed, with other clubs like City, Liverpool and Chelsea using it and then flipping players for tidy sums. We haven’t really done that from the academy yet, so perhaps the next person coming in will have the remit of turning the academy into a little more of a cash cow, but I’m still going to remember Big Per as a guy who represented Arsenal well and was a good servant to the club.

On to the ‘now, and it’ll be Mikel Arteta who will have his press conference today and having seen Liam Rosenior do his yesterday, it’ll be interesting to see how Arteta speaks up this one. In my head, I was thinking that Arteta would undertake more rotation tomorrow night, but looking at the way Rosenior was talking, I suspect not. He talked of the fact that they can’t play Caicedo because of suspension (Mikel Merino’s ankles are grateful), but then also how they’d make a call on James and Cole Palmer and I think that gives you an idea on what kind of team is lining up tomorrow – it will be a strong one. Will Mikel go equally as strong? That’s what I think we’re all eager to find out.

I think at this stage you probably have to, but I’ll save my musings on possible team selection until tomorrow, when we’ve heard from the manager.

Until then, I think I’ll leave you for today, and catch you all tomorrow for a match preview.