Bolton Wanderers boss plans impossible mission at Arsenal

A prestigious third round tie at the Emirates is reward for victories over lesser sides Mansfield and Shrewsbury and comes just 64 hours before a crucial League One clash against Crawley in the League One on Saturday afternoon.

The Gunners frustrated Premier League champions Manchester City for more than half of Sunday’s match with ten men and were accused of using ‘dark arts’ to hold on to their 2-1 lead, only to be defeated by John Stones’ equaliser in the 97th minute.

But Evatt, whose team start as outsiders at odds of 18/1, believes it would be counterproductive to change his own attacking plan for the occasion.

“Look, it’s a game that’s as tough as it gets, apart from Manchester City away,” he said. “But what a great opportunity. I don’t know how anyone else sees the game, but I see it as an opportunity to go and learn what it takes to be a top manager of a club of that stature and for the players to see what it’s like to play at the highest level.

“We have zero expectations, which is different to how we feel every week in the league, nobody expects anything. We will try to make a plan which is probably different to how we would approach things in the league, but it’s great for the fans to have these experiences and hopefully we can make them proud.

“When you go to Manchester City with 10 men, it’s unbelievable to come up with a result. Maybe the way they went about it isn’t for everyone, but as a coach and a manager I have the utmost respect for them.

“They almost got all three of them, which I think would have been an absolute miracle.

“But the problem for us is that it’s such a quick turnaround and that style would be completely different to the way we’re coached. We basically only have one day to formulate a new plan, which is almost impossible.

“We just have to go out there and be the best version of ourselves – press the same way, play the same way, and yes, we try to do that against one of the best teams in the world and we can get punished for that, but there’s no point in doing something completely different.

“Our best learning experiences will be playing against the best players in the world.”

Vagrants will remain in the south to minimise the journey time to Crawley. However, the fact that all League One games are being shown as early as possible by Sky Sports is causing the manager problems.

“That’s true, considering who we’re playing on Wednesday night. It’s not good, it’s not helpful, but what an experience. But we can’t complain.

“We know that Saturday is the most important game, but Wednesday is one where we can learn and gain experience. That is our attitude when we go to Arsenal.

“It’s going to be a completely different thing for our players because we’re used to having the majority of the ball, we’re used to pressing aggressively and it’s going to be a challenge for us to do any of those things. It’s a completely different perspective on what it feels like to play against the best, being a little bit more sacrificial and not seeing nearly as much of the ball is going to be strange for a lot of the guys, but hopefully we can show some resilience.”