Arsenal visit Southampton in the fourth round of the FA Cup this evening (5.30pm kick-off) hoping to win the world’s oldest club competition for a record 13th time.

Arsene Wenger’s men were the winners in 2014 and 2015 to become the first side to win 12 titles, but rivals Manchester United equalled their tally by beating Crystal Palace 2-1 in last year’s final at Wembley.

Nonetheless, the Gunners will feel confident that they can go all the way again this season, and their recent form suggests that they will fancy their chances away at Southampton tonight.

The Gunners haven’t lost any of their five matches in 2017, and won their last away game 4-0 at Swansea back on January 14.

However, they will face a Southampton side riding a wave after they reached the League Cup final this week courtesy of beating Liverpool 2-0 on aggregate, and they’ll have fond memories of their last meeting with the Gunners, having beaten them 2-0 at the Emirates in a League Cup quarter-final in November.

Yet, Arsenal will feel confident of progressing, so here are THREE reasons why the Gunners will reach the last 16 of the FA Cup this evening…

Unbeaten start to 2017

Arsenal have made a solid if unspectacular start to 2017, but they are unbeaten in the five matches they’ve played.

In fact, Wenger’s men haven’t lost since their 2-1 defeat at Manchester City on December 18, with the likes of West Brom, Crystal Palace, and Burnley all coming unstuck against the Gunners.

They haven’t been at their absolute best, but they have found ways to win, with their display against Preston arguably their poorest, but they still made it through to round four of the FA Cup.

Thus, Arsenal are in good form and will look to their 2017 matches as the perfect tonic going into a testing clash at Southampton this afternoon.

Sanchez in terrifyingly good form

Alexis Sanchez has either scored a goal or provided an assist in all but one of his last 11 appearances for Arsenal.

In that time, the Chilean has netted nine times and laid on five assists to help the Gunners to second in the Premier League, and indeed himself to the top of the goal-scoring charts alongside Chelsea’s Diego Costa.

Clearly, Sanchez can do little wrong on the football pitch at present, and his wonderful dinked penalty in the 98th minute to beat Burnley last weekend is indicative of his incredible confidence on the field.

If he does indeed feature on Saturday, he’ll be the man Southampton have to try and stop playing, otherwise it could be a very long afternoon for the Saints.

Best chance of silverware

It doesn’t look like Arsenal are going to win the Premier League, and a last 16 clash against Bayern Munich in the Champions League hasn’t done their chances of winning that competition much good either.

Thus, the FA Cup may be their best chance of silverware this season.

Wenger knows that he comes under severe pressure if he doesn’t win things at the Emirates and, having gone a season without doing so last time out, Gunners fans are expecting him to deliver, especially having spent over £80 million on players in the summer.

Two FA Cup titles in the last three years is a decent return for a club that went nine years without silverware, but the questions will once again be asked if Wenger fails to deliver a trophy this term.

Thus, he should give the FA Cup a real go, and pick his best team to get past Southampton on Saturday.