Arsenal v Blackburn Rovers
The FA Cup with Budweiser
Fifth Round Proper
3pm, Saturday 16 February 2013
Emirates Stadium, Arsenal
Winning clubs receive £180,000 from The FA's Prize Fund
Click here for fixtures
By Marc Isaacs

Arsene Wenger admits he is desperate to see Arsenal win The FA Cup this season and believes his side are the strong favourites to beat Blackburn and reach the quarter final stage of the competition.

The north Londoners have gone eight years without winning a trophy, with their last success coming in The FA Cup back in 2005 when they beat Manchester United on penalties.

Wenger has shown how serious he is treating The Cup by playing the majority of his first-team squad in the competition and plans to do the same again when Championship side Blackburn visit the Emirates on Saturday - even though they face Bayern Munich in the Champions League just three days later.

The Arsenal manager says they will treat the game like a final and knows the threat Blackburn will pose on the day, but is still confident his side will have enough quality to reach the last eight.

The Frenchman said: "We want to win. I believe that The FA Cup is an important target for us. We always take it very seriously, we're on a good run and we want to continue the run. It's as basic as that.

"We are the favourites, they're the outsiders. They have nothing to lose, and they have a squad of Premier League players.

"If you look at who is in the squad, many of their players have Premier League experience, that is why they're dangerous. But we want to win this game.

"I always have to convince people that we take the competition seriously. That shows that we take the competition seriously.

"We prepare for the game like a final every time, and that's why we have done reasonably well until now."

Wenger is convinced his side have learned a great deal from their shock League Cup defeat against Bradford earlier in the season and will not suffer the same mistake against lower league opposition.

Wenger added: "In 16 years, I don't think we had upsets against lower division teams.

"We had one against Bradford, on penalties, but we did take the game seriously. I said that straight away after the match and we analysed very deeply what happened at Bradford, what we produced.

"We took this game very seriously. They have proven since that they are a team of quality. We will take the Blackburn game seriously and with a huge desire to win it."

Wenger has injury concerns over midfielder Jack Wilshere and central defenders Laurent Koscielny and Thomas Vermaelen.