Former West Ham Stiker Tony Cottee has said he’s happy to see his former clubs manager Manuel Pellegrini taking the FA Cup seriously this season, after they were drawn away at Wimbledon in the fourth round.
Hammers hero Cottee believes that the way the draw has fallen so far, his former side have a chance at having a decent run in the competition.
An away draw at third tier Wimbledon looks favourable for the club current sat comfortably in mid-table in the Premier League. The East London club are looking for their first piece of major silverware since 1980.
“I think we have to look at it as a very good draw – at this stage of the competition you just want to avoid facing one of the Premier League big boys and hopefully have a tie you can be confident of winning at the first attempt,” Cottee told whufc.com.
“It would obviously be preferable to be at home. However, going to Kingsmeadow will not be unknown territory for the team – we have played and won there already this season in the Carabao Cup, and that should be a positive factor.”
“We know it will be a tough battle and that AFC Wimbledon will play direct – our old coach Wally Downes will no doubt have them fired up, but we have certainly got enough quality to get past them and, if we can do that, we are into the serious stage of the competition,”
“Looking at the fourth-round draw in general, with Liverpool already out, Arsenal facing Manchester United and a couple of other all-Premier League ties, there is the potential that things could open up in the fifth round,”
“Having said that, we shouldn’t be worrying too much about other teams. Manuel Pellegrini’s selection on Saturday proved that he is taking the competition seriously and I’m sure it will be a similar approach against AFC Wimbledon.”
