Nicklas Bendtner's hat-trick puts him in contention to start ‘vital game’ against Sunderland - Arsene Wenger

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Nicklas Bendtner is in contention to start the upcoming game against Sunderland, after the striker scored a hat-trick against Leyton Orient in the FA Cup.

The towering Dane has made only two starts in the Premier League so far this season, and has in the past been vocal about not receiving enough game time.

The Frenchman also dropped a hint that the forward could be involved in the all-important Champions League second leg against Barcelona, if he puts in a strong performance against Sunderland.

"It [the hat-trick against Leyton Orient] puts him in contention to play against Sunderland. For us that is a vital game," Wenger told reporters.

"If we win it it puts us in a great position.

"But he [Bendtner] played well last year at Barcelona but what is important now is that if he plays he plays well against Sunderland."

The Gunners can put the pressure on Manchester United by reducing the gap between the two sides to just one point on Saturday.

The north London club also have a game in hand over the Old Trafford outfit, which makes the coming games very important - particularly more so as the boss has confirmed that winning the Premier League is now the priority.

And with Robin van Persie out for three weeks due to a knee injury, the onus falls on Bendtner and Marouane Chamakh to do the damage up front.

Wenger said: "We have lost Van Persie so for Bendtner and Chamakh to score is very important.

"We need them to have the level of confidence you need your strikers to have to take on the big games.

"They took their chances [on Wednesday] and did very well."

Concerning Chamakh, the manager added: "With the games here in front of us we need Chamakh.

"He had a great start to the season until the end of November and beginning of December.

"After he had a little bit of burnout and now in training he looks to have come back.

"For a while he looked very tired but it is really good for him to have scored."

FA Cup : Arsenal 5 - 0 Leyton Orient - Match Report

Nicklas Bendtner fired a hat-trick as Arsenal brushed aside Leyton Orient to set up a mouthwatering FA Cup Quarter-Final tie with Manchester United.

Arsène Wenger’s challenge for the Carling Cup may have ended in disappointing fashion but they are alive and kicking in England’s other knockout competition.

A Bendtner brace and Marouane Chamakh’s first goal since November put the home side in control in the first half. The Dane completed the second treble of his Arsenal career from the penalty spot on the hour. Then, 15 minutes from time, Gael Clichy fired home only his second goal in 255 games for the Club.

It was nothing more than we expected but, all the same, it was welcome catharsis after Sunday.

Arsenal have massive games with Sunderland and Barcelona in the next seven days. Games which, like last Sunday, could shape their season.

After tonight, they are clearly on the way back.

Having debuted Ignasi Miguel in the game at Brisbane Road, Wenger chose to give Conor Henderson a bow in the return game this evening.

The 19-year-old is a former Irish youth international and a current Reserve team regular. He took his place on the left of midfield.

In fact there were only three changes from the game at Brisbane Road. Henderson for Andrey Arshavin and Emmanuel Eboue for Bacary Sagna. Meanwhile Alex Song dropped out and Abou Diaby returned after a month out through suspension and a calf injury.

Ignasi reprised his role alongside Sebastien Squillaci at centre back. Tomas Rosicky was the only survivor from Wembley at the weekend.

In the first game, Leyton Orient, like Birmingham, had caught Arsenal late.

But in the circumstances this replay was welcome. After Sunday, Wenger’s men needed to get themselves going again as soon as possible. Manchester United’s defeat at Chelsea the previous night had put them back in control of their title bid once more. And, of course, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side also lay in wait in the last eight.

It was a bitterly cold North London night but Arsenal’s start was sparky and they quickly put themselves in front. Diaby’s early drive was charged down then, in the seventh minute, Rosicky raced to the byline and cut the ball back for Chamakh to sweep home a shot.

It was the Moroccan’s first goal since the Premier League trip to Aston Villa on November 27.

Orient responded with all the valour we had seen in the first game. Ben Chorley’s shot hit team-mate Scott McGleish in a crowded area and deflected over the bar. Then Alex Revell steered a shot wide at the near post.

Russell Slade’s side had lost only one game in four months - and you could tell why. Committed and organised, they made it hard for Arsenal, who seemed happy to soak up the visitors’ energy and make their quality tell when they could.

And, on the half-hour, they did.

Kieran Gibbs whipped in a cross to the far side of the six-yard box where Bendtner looped a header back across goal and beyond the outstretched hands of Orient keeper Jamie Jones.

Arsenal were in control. Now they just had to keep it that way in order to reach the last eight.

Meanwhile that second goal seemed to deflate Orient and a little slackness would gift the home side a third on the stroke of half-time. The visitors took a throw to Thomas Carroll on the right but he was robbed by Rosicky. The midfielder’s prod fell to Bendtner, who cut inside and blasted his cross-shot beyond Jones.

It appeared that game was now beyond his team aswell.

Within five minutes of the restart, Denilson had thumped a long shot into the chest of Jones then Diaby played a one-two with Chamakh but dragged his shot just beyond the far post.

Orient tried to respond but, on the hour, it was 4-0. Gibbs weaved inside Andrew Whing but was hauled down by Revell. Bendtner fired home his hat-trick goal from the spot.

The goal allowed Wenger to make a change. Rosicky had been brought down before the penalty incident. After it, he walked gingerly round the pitch and down the tunnel. Samir Nasri came on.

Shortly afterwards, the manager replaced Diaby and Bendtner with Jack Wilshere and Clichy.

Sixteen minutes from time, the latter would plunder a fifth. Eboue's cross was dummied by Chamakh and Clichy rifled home. It was his first goal since November 2008.

From there, Arsenal hit the button marked ‘cruise control’. Orient went close in injury time when Dean Cox thundered a shot just wide but Wilshere and Nasri spurned similar efforts in the dying minutes.

This was just what Arsenal needed. A safe, controlled victory in which the goals will have bred confidence as much as the clean-sheet at the back.

Now they must build again on this foundation.

Former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry yearns for return to Emirates

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has admitted he still misses life at the Emirates and would jump at the chance to return to the Gunners.

Henry spent eight years at Arsenal, scoring 174 goals in 254 games for the club before moving to Barcelona and then on to his current club, New York Red Bulls in 2010.

But Henry concedes he still feels part of the club which he left in 2007 and has hinted at a possible return.

"I love the club. Unfortunately we know I had to leave the club but although I left Arsenal you never really leave Arsenal,” he told Reuters.

"Whenever I go back I feel like I have gone home, it's a big family and I became a fan of the club.

"I knew what it was like to beat Manchester United. I knew what it meant to the fans when we were playing against Tottenham, I knew all that.

"You don't get that from one or two years, you need to live and breathe Arsenal to understand that.

"It goes without saying, I would love to go back there. I hope one day I can go back, I love that club and I just want to give as much as possible to this club, after what that club gave me."

At the age of 33, Henry’s playing career is coming to an end and the Frenchman admitted that if he couldn’t return to the playing squad then a backroom role would be an option, and he refused to rule out replacing current manager Arsene Wenger one day in the future.

"I know that the day Arsene leaves is going to be a difficult one, I don't know who can replace him. That is going to be hard,” he continued.

"But, if one day they want me ... I just want to be back one day. When, I don't know, I just want to be back."

Djourou - We have resources to bounce back

Arsenal still have the "resources" to end the season with a trophy, according to Johan Djourou.

The Swiss defender was heartbroken after watching the Carling Cup slip away in the closing moments of Sunday's Final at Wembley. A misunderstanding between Wojciech Szczesny and Laurent Koscielny handed victory to Birmingham City and left Djourou and his team-mates reflecting on what might have been.

The 24-year-old believes that the best way to make up for Sunday's setback is to win one of the three other competitions still on Arsenal's agenda. That quest begins with an FA Cup replay against Leyton Orient on Wednesday.

"We have to bounce back," said Djourou. "We just could not get that second goal to win us the Carling Cup, but we have other things coming up. We are still in the FA Cup, there is still the League and the Champions League, so we need to bounce back.

"Things like that [mistake] happen in football. It is just a shame it happened so near the end. But also mistakes make you stronger.

"We are aiming to get back to Wembley in the FA Cup and also the Champions League. We have to bounce back and go for glory. The Club needs to show character now and we have the resources to do it."

Carling Cup : Arsenal 1 - 2 Birmingham City - Match Report

A last-gasp defensive mix-up put paid to Arsenal’s hopes of Carling Cup glory at Wembley on Sunday.

With one minute left on the clock, a long free-kick from Ben Foster was flicked on by Nikola Zigic and seemed destined for the arms of Wojciech Szczesny. But the keeper, distracted by Laurent Koscielny’s attempt to clear, fumbled the ball into Obafemi Martins’ path.
The Nigerian couldn't believe his luck and rolled it into an empty net.

It was heartbreaking for an Arsenal side that had looked the stronger as a gruelling Final headed towards extra time. Zigic had headed Birmingham in front in the first half but Robin van Persie equalised with a fine volley.

All that mattered for nothing in the end. Now Arsenal must pick themselves up and stay on track in three other competitions.

This hurts, but it could still be a season to remember.

When Arsène Wenger woke up on Cup Final morning he had two decisions to make. Who replaces Cesc Fabregas, who tweaked his hamstring against Stoke? And who steps in for Theo Walcott after he sprained an ankle in the same game?

Andrey Arshavin was a predictable deputy for the latter but Wenger sprang something of a surprise when he selected Tomas Rosicky instead of asking Samir Nasri to fill that Fabregas-shaped void.

The absence of their creative hub and speedster had certainly weakened Arsenal but they still emerged at a colourful yet rain-sodden Wembley as firm favourites to see off Birmingham, a club that had waited considerably longer for silverware - it’s 48 years since they won this very prize. But Arsenal have slipped up in similar circumstances before: remember Luton in 1988 and Swindon in 1969?

Wembley has changed rather a lot since then but the threat of an upset was the same. Within two minutes of the first whistle, this year’s underdogs reminded Arsenal why complacency was not an option. Lee Bowyer raced through on goal and was unceremoniously taken out by Szczesny. A cast-iron penalty was wiped out by the offside flag - and replays showed the linesman was wrong.

Shaken into life by that early scare, Arsenal advanced.

After seven minutes Van Persie fizzed an audacious effort past the angle after Wilshere had clipped an ambitious return ball into the box. A minute later Nasri cut inside from the right and found Arshavin with a clever angled pass. The Russian span his marker and shot low but Foster blocked with his legs. Then Nasri shanked high and wide after a slaloming run into the Birmingham box had taken him past three defenders.

The tone seemed to be set: Arsenal probing, Birmingham stifling. But the underdogs were rather more ambitious than that.

Keith Fahey tested Szczesny with a curler from 20 yards but their main threat came from Zigic. Birmingham looked to him for knockdowns into the path of their midfield runners and the six-foot-eight striker had already caused Johan Djourou and Koscielny plenty of problems before he opened the scoring in the 28th minute.

It was a simple enough goal: Sebastian Larsson picked out Roger Johnson with a right-wing corner, he nodded goalwards and Zigic rose high to flick a header past Szczesny despite the best attempts of Nasri on the line.

The ghosts of Swindon and Luton were back to haunt Arsenal and, although Van Persie headed just wide seconds after the goal, the Cup almost slipped away in the next ten minutes.

The red-and-white half of Wembley had Szczesny to thank after the goalkeeper rushed out to make a point-blank save from Zigic after he got clear inside the box. Then Djourou made two vital interventions in a matter of seconds to stop crosses reaching their intended target of Zigic.

Arsenal were struggling to contain the Serbian but their own centre forward would steal the spotlight from him six minutes before the break. Wilshere made it possible with a surging run and a thumping drive that crashed off the crossbar and Arshavin collected the rebound and wriggled past his marker to cross for Van Persie to volley into the corner. Arsenal were all-square.

Nasri stung the hands of Foster in first-half stoppage time and Rosicky flashed a first-time shot wide at the end of a quicksilver move three minutes into the second half. The tide seemed to be turning.

But just when you sensed Arsenal were taking a grip, Birmingham almost caught them with a sucker-punch. This time Jean Beasejour robbed Djourou and the ball rolled for Fahey, who saw one shot blocked and a second effort cannon off the post with Szczesny helpless.

Van Persie, injured while scoring his goal and only just back from a hamstring problem, made way for Nicklas Bendtner with a little over 20 minutes left. The Dane is remembered fondly among Birmingham fans for his successful loan spell at St. Andrew’s four years ago. This was his chance to tarnish that reputation.

He so nearly did within six minutes of coming on. Cutting in from the left, Bendtner unleashed a shot that took a deflection and tested Foster’s reflexes to the limit.

It was the second time in quick succession that the keeper had saved his team after keeping out Nasri’s venomous drive moments before. Moments later he hacked clear as Rosicky tried to dink the ball over him and Nasri was thwarted once more as Arsenal piled on the pressure.

If you had to pick a winner at that stage, it would have been the Gunners.

But there would be the nastiest of twists to this tale.