Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores admits his love for the FA Cup
Friday 11 March 2016 18:56, UK
Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores has fallen in love with the FA Cup since moving to England last year.
This season is his first in the country following spells in Spain and the Middle East but Flores is already hooked on the importance and atmosphere of the prestigious cup competition.
He is preparing his side for a quarter-final visit to Arsenal on Sunday and is relishing the challenge.
He said: "I respect it a lot and I love this competition. It is one of the oldest competitions in the world and a read a lot about this competition, it is just amazing.
"We competed against Leeds and Nottingham Forest and that makes the competition very special. We are really interested in this competition and we are really pleased we are still in it."
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Watford travel to current holders Arsenal, who are hoping to win the competition three times in a row, just one game away from a trip to Wembley but Flores is concentrating on the match on Sunday rather than looking ahead.
He said: "First we need to talk about Sunday. We are not thinking about the consequences of the match but the match itself.
"The game will be difficult Arsenal are playing well, they will be confident but we are playing well in the FA Cup so at the moment we have reasons to be positive.
There will be some changes from the side who lost to Leicester in the Premier League last weekend as goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon will come into the side having featured throughout their FA Cup run so far.
Flores will make late decisions on Saturday on Craig Cathcart and Jose Miguel Jurado, who are both struggling with calf injuries, but the Watford boss intends to pick his best squad to face the Gunners.
Flores said: "We have three players at the training ground (Miguel) Britos, Cathcart and Jurado who, at the moment, are not ready.
"The strongest team that I think will be the players I chose for the first XI. Every player in the squad has my confidence, it is not an easy job.
"We need to wait until after tomorrow for Cathcart but Britos is not playing."
