Wenger will give up FA Cup hopes to boost title bid

Arsene Wenger admits he is ready to sacrifice Arsenal's FA Cup hopes to keep their Premier League title challenge on track.

Wenger's side make the short trip across London to face West Ham in the third round of the Cup tomorrow in a derby clash that would usually be treated with the utmost respect by Arsenal's manager.

Wenger has won the FA Cup four times during his 13 years in north London and the club's last major silverware came in the competition back in 2005.

Yet the French coach has no intention of letting fond memories of the tournament distract him from keeping his players fresh for Wednesday's crucial home league game against Bolton.

Arsenal are firmly back in the title race after their 4-1 win at Portsmouth in midweek and a victory over the managerless Trotters would close the gap on leaders Chelsea to just one point.

With that in mind, Wenger is prioritising the league and plans to send out an under-strength side at Upton Park.

Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott and Denilson are all sidelined through injury, but Wenger will also rest several other players as the likes of Mikael Silvestre and Lukasz Fabianski get rare outings.

"I will have to rest some players, that is for sure," Wenger said.

"We want to win, but we want to protect our home games against Bolton and Everton as well, to keep the momentum going.

"The Premier League is always more important than the FA Cup. The Premier League is so hard that you want to take care of your position.

"At the moment we have to keep our spirit and our attitude, then we have a chance.

"A season is judged on the overall achievement and people look to who has won the trophies but I also look at how we have done and how consistently we have played."

Like Wenger, West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola is more concerned by his side's league position than aiming for success in the FA Cup and, with a long battle against relegation looming, the Italian could also rest key players.

Only goal difference is keeping the Hammers out of the relegation zone after Monday's defeat at Tottenham and Zola knows his team need to show more of the battling qualities that helped them fight back from two goals down to draw with Arsenal earlier this season.