THEY might have lost last weekend's league game against Arsenal, but John O'Shea feels a tactical repeat should earn Sunderland an FA Cup quarter-final place when the Gunners return to the Stadium of Light tomorrow.

Six days ago, the Black Cats were prepared to soak up sustained spells of Arsenal possession before attempting to hit their opponents on the break.

Fraizer Campbell spent much of his time pulling towards the right flank in an attempt to stretch the Arsenal back four, with the likes of Stephane Sessegnon, James McClean and Craig Gardner bursting to join in the attack when Sunderland switched the play from one end of the field to the other.

Ultimately, the ploy proved unsuccessful, with Thierry Henry's stoppage-time winner completing an Arsenal comeback that began with a goal from Aaron Ramsey.

Nevertheless, O'Shea does not feel Sunderland should be ripping up their game plan tomorrow, with Arsenal's porous defence potentially making them vulnerable on the break.

"We've nothing to be scared of and we'll approach the game the same way we did (last weekend)," said the Black Cats defender. "We'll look to cause them problems on the break."We know we are more than capable of doing that - we just need to make sure we keep our concentration if and when we take the lead to see the game out.

"We've got to be positive, and brave enough to keep the ball. If we do that, I'm sure we'll cause them more problems on the break."

To Sunderland, tomorrow's game was always going to be one of the biggest matches of the season given that a place in the last eight of the FA Cup is at stake.

Arsenal probably thought they had bigger to fish to fry ahead of Wednesday's Champions League game in Milan, but a 4-0 defeat in the San Siro has left the London club's season in tatters.

Arsene Wenger's side can ill afford to exit the FA Cup this weekend - a scenario that would guarantee their trophy-less run extending to a seventh season - but it remains to be seen how much psychological damage has been caused by this week's European humiliation.

At the very least, however, the Gunners have had to contend with two lengthy journeys and a disrupted training schedule.

"Arsenal have obviously had a game and we haven't," said O'Shea. "But that won't necessarily give us the upper hand because the teams in the Champions League have experienced squads to cope with all the matches.

"I'm sure whatever team Arsenal put out will be full of internationals and capable of causing us problems if we don't perform to the level we know we can."

Wenger has major a defensive headache to contend with after Laurent Koscielny was forced off in the first half of Wednesday's defeat.

The Frenchman, who was arguably Arsenal's most impressive player last weekend, is a major doubt for tomorrow's game, along with fellow defender Per Mertesacker.

As a result, Wenger could be forced to field midfielder Alex Song as an emergency centre-half.

* Sunderland striker Jordan Cook has extended his loan spell at League One Carlisle United until Saturday, March 10.

The 21 year-old joined the Cumbrians last month as has featured in all four of their games since, making two starts and two substitute appearances.