Wenger relieved to pass plucky part-timers

LONDON - Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said his team could easily have faced an FA Cup humiliation against non-league Sutton United had the Gunners not been fully focused.

Arsenal won Monday's fifth-round tie 2-0 at Sutton's 5,000-capacity Gander Green Lane home, but the north Londoners were given a real run for their money by a team ranked 105 places below it in the English league system.

Goals from Lucas Perez and Theo Walcott, his 100th for the Gunners, earned the visitor victory, but the part-timers pushed it until the end, even hitting the bar through ex-Arsenal trainee Roarie Deacon.

Asked if it was a case of "job done'" Wenger replied: "Yes, against a side that was astonishing.

"It is basically division five, and they are 17th out of 24. I will never go down there (to manage) because it is too difficult!

"We had to keep our focus. I must give credit to the players who were professional and kept their focus.

"If we had come here in a relaxed mood, we would have gone out tonight because they produced quality.

"They kept going and we were never really in a position where we could afford to have a little breather in the game."

Wenger made seven changes from last week's 5-1 Champions League drubbing at Bayern Munich, which has left his long-term future at the club in doubt.

But the blending of several full internationals with a handful of fringe players betrayed his eagerness to avoid yet more negative headlines.

"We couldn't afford to go out tonight. We can never afford it," said Wenger, whose team will host another non-league side, Lincoln City, in the quarterfinals.

Crowd trouble

A bottle appeared to be thrown toward the dugouts at the final whistle, as fans launched a mass pitch invasion, but Wenger played down the incident.

"I don't know if it was at me or someone else or the referee, but there was a bottle thrown, yes," he said.

Sutton manager Paul Doswell condemned the unruly scenes.

"It disappointed me at the end," he said. "They don't support Sutton. Absolute idiots."

Nevertheless, he said it had been "a dream" to watch his players play against Arsenal and professed himself "very, very proud" of their efforts.

In previous rounds, Sutton ousted fourth-tier Cheltenham Town, third-tier Wimbledon and, its biggest scalp, Championship high-fliers Leeds United.

The south London upstart estimates its cup run has been worth $1.27 million, which will be used to renovate the Gander Green Lane clubhouse.

First and foremost, however, Doswell wants to make sure his side, currently 18th in the National League, avoids sliding even further down England's soccer pyramid.

Asked what the cup run meant to Sutton, he told reporters: "A legacy for the club that allows them to go and put right all the things they wanted to put right.

"We've got to get safe in the National League to have really had a good season. If we finish 18th, with what's happened, it's a remarkable thing.

"Everything inside, all the toilets, everything you'd want your house to look like, we're going to put our house in order. It won't be spent on players."

Agence France-Presse