Arsene Wenger says Mohamed Elneny has proved he is ready to start for Arsenal ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final against Watford.

The Egypt midfielder has been a competition regular since joining from Basel in January, completing the full 90 minutes of the Gunners’ wins over Burnley and Hull City.

Elneny also impressed in the Premier League at Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, and Wenger says the 23-year-old’s form gives Arsenal a chance to rotate in midfield ahead of another busy week.

"I consider every formula that is possible to give us a balance. At the moment I think Elneny in central midfield can cope" Arsene Wenger

“He looks like he is ready to play,” the manager said. “I consider every formula that is possible to give us a balance. At the moment I think Elneny in central midfield can cope.

“We have Flamini, we have Coquelin who can cope as well. They have shown [that] already. The formula can change as well if needed but that depends on the games. Every game will be different now.

“In our job, you want to perform in the next game and the next game is an important one because we have fought hard to get there and that is our purpose. After that we deal with the next one.

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“If you have a good run, you sometimes absorb them without any problems. If you have a bad result, of course there is no time to digest sometimes and to get the belief back in the squad. We want to do that and what is very important is to be in there and have a chance to show how good you are.“