Huddersfield Town head coach David Wagner has described the FA Cup as a "great competition" ahead of his side's fourth round clash with Birmingham City on Saturday afternoon.
The Blues travel to the John Smith's Stadium after knocking out fellow Championship strugglers Burton Albion in the last round whilst Huddersfield defeated another second tier side in Bolton Wanderers.
FA Cup a great competition
Speaking to the media ahead of the weekend's action, David Wagner ensured he made his awareness of the FA Cup's eminence known.
“First of all, it’s a great competition, it’s the oldest football competition in the world and we would like to be involved more than just this round. For this we must perform if we want to be successful.
“We are totally independent from what has happened in the Premier League so far, and we are focused on the new one. This is an exciting competition we play at home in front of our supporters."
Wagner's rotation policy makes it seem certain a number of players will be rested this weekend ahead of a testing run of Premier League fixtures and he proclaimed his squad is in great shape.
“We’ve had a good week so far with a lot of healthy players in training and hopefully we will make the right decisions in the starting line-up that we will be successful.”
Premier League the priority
Despite the importance of the FA Cup in English football, the Terriers' boss insists that the Premier League remains the overall priority, but all focus is on the cup competition this weekend.
“The priority for us is the Premier League, this is our daily work. But on Saturday the priority is the FA Cup and I’ve not problems having the priority to be successful in both competitions we are involved in.
“I would not view both competitions as a connection; they are independent from each other. We are in the Premier League in a position where we are in the middle of the race, around the middle amongst 10 teams who will fight for survival; we are one of them.
“In the FA Cup, it’s a second competition where we have booked a ticket for this round where we beat Bolton Wanderers and we have the chance to book a further ticket against Birmingham on Saturday.”