Swansea City v Arsenal
The FA Cup with Budweiser
Third Round Proper
1.30pm, Sunday 6 January 2013
Liberty Stadium
Live on ESPN
Winning clubs will receive £67,500 from The FA prize fund
Click here for all the Third Round ties
by Declan Taylor
Arsene Wenger says his love for The FA Cup has not diminished during his 16 years in England, as he prepares his side to take on Swansea on Sunday.
The Frenchman has steered Arsenal to four FA Cups during his tenure, most recently in 2005 - which remains the last time the Gunners' got their hands on any silverware.
They kick off their campaign this season with a difficult trip to south Wales on Sunday to face a Swansea side which beat them 2-0 at the Emirates last month.
But since that defeat, Wenger's Arsenal have won four out of five in the Premier League while Swansea have only managed one win in their subsequent six league fixtures.
And Wenger is looking forward to another crack at the Swans in The FA Cup.
He said: "It is something special because it is something exciting, it is watched all over the world. It has a special history in England and I always respected that.
"I am always sad when we don't win it or when we go out. We will put our maximum effort in on Sunday to win the game.
"It has the priority because it's the next game. We play at Swansea, it's a difficult tie, but of course we want to come out on top of it.
"People will speculate a lot about who will win it in the end. To have a chance to do that, you just need to get through the first round [you take part in]."
After their impressive start to life under Michael Laudrup, who took over in the summer following the departure of Brendan Rodgers, Swansea are ninth in the Premier League - just five points behind Arsenal.
Wenger added: "They are a team who have already shown last year they are at a good technical level, that they can adapt - they adapted very quickly to the Premier League - and that they can buy well, they've shown that again this season with players like Michu.
"They lost their manager but they are a successful story. They lost Brendan Rodgers and they took Laudrup who is doing very well. Before, they lost Martinez, so they always find the right guy to replace the manager who is leaving."
