![\"Mikel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772493068_128_0_Arsenal-v-Chelsea-Premier-League.jpg\")
<\/p>\nArsenal travel to Mansfield in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Saturday and will be faced with a tough playing surface as they bid to reach the last eight<\/p>\n
Arteta must decide whether to risk his big-name stars on a tricky surface at Mansfield(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Mikel Arteta will be in for a culture shock at Mansfield Town this weekend. Arteta takes his quadruple-chasing Arsenal<\/a> to the League One club in the FA Cup<\/a> fifth round.<\/p>\n They can expect a big test and not least because of the pitch which has been described as a \u201ctricky surface\u201d. Mansfield were held to a 2-2 draw against AFC Wimbledon on Saturday and after record recent rainfall it has made the playing surface very difficult.<\/p>\n AFC Wimbledon boss Johnnie Jackson said: \u201cIt was physically tough and very demanding as conditions were not great with all the rain. So we knew from the start it would not be the prettiest of games.<\/p>\n \u201cThe pitch was really hard to play on so, in light of that, it was a really good game. But I was very pleased with the way we dug in away from home when we had to and twice responded from going behind. That is not easy to do, especially in these conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: Arsenal injury latest and return hopes \u2013 Declan Rice scare, Martin Odegaard situation<\/a>READ MORE: Mikel Arteta’s intriguing Arsenal comparison to Arsene Wenger’s title winners at same stage<\/a><\/p>\n Mansfield boss Nigel Clough has done a great job and has already got some FA Cup scalps under his belt, knocking out Sheffield United and then Premier League Burnley<\/a> in the last round. Both ties were won away from home.<\/p>\n The 9,000-capacity ground is a world<\/a> away from Premier League<\/a> luxury and falls right in the middle of a testing time for Arsenal.<\/p>\n It is on Saturday lunchtime for live TV coverage and may bring back memories of days when Arsenal lost at York City in the FA Cup fifth round in 1985 and an even bigger one at Wrexham in 1992 when the Gunners were defending champions and the Welsh club were rock bottom.<\/p>\n Gunners boss Arteta has a trip to Brighton<\/a> on Wednesday night as they chase glory in the Premier League title race. That will then be followed by a Champions League<\/a> last-16 tie at Bayer Leverkusen the following Wednesday.<\/p>\n It means Arsenal will almost certainly look to rest and rotate the squad at Mansfield with many of the first-team regular starters likely to be rested.<\/p>\n Mansfield boss Nigel Clough (Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n MAKE THE MIRROR YOUR FIRST CHOICE! Click here to activate <\/a>or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings<\/p>\n They could bring in the likes of Kepa Arrizabalaga, Cristhian Mosquera, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Christian Norgaard as well as Gabriel Jesus and Noni Madueke.<\/p>\n Arteta will not want too many risks on a pitch which is already bare in big patches, looks heavy and the mud will be even worse if there is more bad weather this week.<\/p>\n Highly-respected scout Alan Randall watched the game and was full of praise for Mansfield as a club but said further rain could cause problems.<\/p>\n Randall said: \u201cIt\u2019s the pitch that will cause the issues. It will be a tricky surface. Any more heavy rain this week and Mikel Artetta will have seriously have to consider his line up.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a friendly club but this could be a tricky day for the Gunners when you might need experience over kids but also some players might find it difficult to showcase their talents.\u201d<\/p>\n Join our new WhatsApp community<\/a> and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us – and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice<\/a>.<\/p>\n Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arsenal travel to Mansfield in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Saturday and will be faced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1111,2948,218,164062,2119,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-454318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-arsenal-fc","tag-fa-cup","tag-football","tag-mansfield-town","tag-mikel-arteta","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Nigel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_Mansfield-Town-FC-v-Crawley-Town-FC-Sky-Bet-League-One.jpg\")
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