Jack Wilshere was relieved that Arsenal earnt a replay against Leeds United at the Emirates two weeks ago.

The Gunners went behind to the Championship side and looked to be heading out of the FA Cup in the 3rd round, but a Cesc Fabregas penalty levelled the tie late on.

The teams meet in a replay at Elland Road tonight, and despite suggestions that Arsène Wenger will rotate the side, Wilshere believes the team will be strong enough and determined to go through to the next round.

The young Englishman values the FA Cup highly, and thanked Fabregas for his performance in the first game, which he believes helped keep them in the competition.

The 19-year-old said: "It's ridiculous to say that the FA Cup has lost its significance. It's a trophy at the end of the day and we want to win it.

"People say that because we play a different team but we've got the squad to play a different team, it's massive for us.

"If you say now, would you rather be out or have a replay you would definitely take a replay. We owe a lot to Cesc for that, he came on and changed the game. We got out of jail really."

Wilshere was pleased with the atmosphere at the Emirates, when travelling Leeds supporters brought a big crowd to cheer on their team.

He added: "The Leeds fans were great, there was 9000 of them and I've never seen that before. That's the FA Cup for you."

Patrick Vieira believes Carlos Tevez is as big an influence on Manchester City as Thierry Henry was to the Arsenal 'Invincibles'.

Another thunderbolt at Eastlands saw him book his club an FA Cup Fourth Round trip to Notts County and took his tally for the season to 16, emphasising his importance to the Blues' trophy quest.

As Vieira recalls, it was just like that with Henry when Arsenal were ruling the roost, and whilst the players are very different in style, their overall impact was the same.

''Carlos is as good as Thierry Henry,'' said Vieira. ''They are different players but when you want to win trophies you need a striker who can score 20 to 25 goals a season.

''City have that type of player in Carlos. He is someone who can win you games. Even if you don't play well you know he will create a chance by himself and score it. If you want to win the championship or/and FA Cup, you need players like that.''

Manager Roberto Mancini has been equally fulsome in his praise of the 26-year-old, but penalties are a problem though, and it would be no surprise if the job was handed to someone else when Mancini's team are next offered a chance to score from the spot after he missed another against Leicester.

''In every game, Carlos either scores a goal, plays well or fights against strong defenders,'' said Mancini. ''He helps control the match. There is only one problem. Penalties. At this moment they are very average, so we will see what happens with the next one.''

The Arsenal captain Cesc Fábregas has moved to dispel suggestions of a rift with his fellow midfielder Denilson. In an interview with Arsenal Brasil and Arseblog the 22-year-old said he felt the Gunners "lack leadership", claiming "Fábregas is the captain, but he is not a leader to me".

However, the Spain World Cup winner insisted there was no disharmony within the Arsenal camp. Fábregas wrote on Twitter: "Abt [sic] what Deni said. I've been in his situation before, just a misunderstanding. Now lets win tonite! [sic]."

Fábregas attached a picture of the duo as they travelled on the train to Leeds for tonight's FA Cup third-round replay, both players were smiling and giving the thumbs up sign.

Denilson is expected to feature again at Elland Road, as the Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger rotates the squad.

The Brazilian gave away a penalty to Leeds in the first tie 10 days ago and Fábregas kept the Gunners in the competition with a last-minute spot-kick of his own. Afterwards he gave Denilson a dressing down for making such a clumsy challenge. "They scored from a penalty that, at this stage when you are a professional footballer you can not give away this type of penalty so easily," Fábregas said in his post-match TV interview.