The Gunners have won the world's oldest knockout competition four times since Wenger arrived at the club, the 2005 victory over Manchester United on penalties at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium being their last trophy. Promotion hopefuls Leeds come to Emirates Stadium for Saturday's televised third-round encounter, when Wenger will rotate his squad after a hectic festive schedule in the Premier League. The Gunners boss, though, maintains the FA Cup will always hold a special place in his heart, even if at some stage later in the season a decision on priorities may have to be made. "I said since the start of the season that I have a big squad and that we will go for all the competitions. Tomorrow for us our desire is to qualify, we take the FA Cup very seriously," Wenger said. "I believe it is what is was, because we are going back to Wembley for the final. "Maybe people have lost the romance from the FA Cup a bit because there are so many Champions League games, and the Premier League has become massively important, but the FA Cup is still a big thing. "The only problem we have had in the FA Cup is sometimes it is conflicting with the Champions League when you go far. "I remember once we played Manchester United in the semi-finals at Villa Park, and then three days later we had a quarter-final of the Champions League. "I played all of the same players, and in the end we lost the Champions League match late in the game. "You think 'we should have sacrificed a bit more the FA Cup', so sometimes when you go further, it is conflicting with other competitions." There was a suggestion interest in the FA Cup could be increased were a Champions League place to be made available for the winners. However, Wenger feels that would not sit well. "It would certainly spice it up, but it would meet a lot of resistance from the Premier League clubs. It is already difficult to be in the top four," he said. "Anyway, don't forget that also in the last 10 years one of the four teams has been in the final now anyway." Arsenal will rest the likes of Robin van Persie, Samir Nasri, Jack Wilshere and Laurent Koscielny, while skipper Cesc Fabregas could also been given a break. However, with men such as 10-goal Marouane Chamakh, Nicklas Bendtner, Andrey Arshavin, Kieran Gibbs and Emmanuel Eboue all set to feature, along with Wales midfielder Aaron Ramsey, back from a productive loan spell at Nottingham Forest, Wenger maintains it will be anything but a weakened side. "I am very lucky because I have 25 players of a top, top level and to choose for any game is a big problem because I have an abundance of quality," he said. "The team which plays tomorrow will be the freshest team and therefore the best available. "We rotated quite well I think, we are not over tired and the squad is quite fresh and hungry." There have been plenty of classic encounters between Arsenal and Leeds down the years, including the 1972 centenary FA Cup final at Wembley, where Allan Clarke headed the West Yorkshire side to a famous victory. Last season, Leeds recorded a shock third-round victory at Manchester United and Wenger is all too aware of the threat the Championship side will face. "Leeds is part of a tradition of football history in England," the Arsenal manager said. "When you look at the fixtures of the Premier League, you knew when you went to Leeds, if you take points there you have a chance to do well in the league. Now it looks as though they are coming up again." Wenger continued: "They were really impressive at Old Trafford last season, not only with their results, but with the way they played. "At that time, they had the team they had now, Jermaine Beckford as well who was scoring important goals. "They have shown that it was not a coincidence. Now they are amongst the top teams in the Championship and we are taking them very seriously."
