THE FA Cup - once a poor second on Sam Allardyce's priority list - is now top of his wish list.

The Reebok boss dreams of Wanderers competing in the first final at the new Wembley, just as they did when the old stadium opened in 1923, but, after disposing of Arsenal, it is no longer a fantasy.

In fact, he is so upbeat after Saturday's fourth round victory, that he is worried that the stadium might not be ready for May 13.

"We've seen off the current cup holders, so it's a reachable goal for us this year," Allardyce said after seeing an 84th minute Stelios goal secure a fourth round victory over Arsene Wenger's Gunners.

"But, if we got to the cup final and the stadium wasn't ready, I'd be absolutely gutted, although we'll worry more about that when we get a little closer."

With three more tough rounds still come, Allardyce, understandably, is not getting too carried away. But he is anxious not to waste such an important victory as this.

"I wouldn't want to go into the next round and just peter out," he said, urging his depleted but determined squad to make the most of their latest success.

"We want to go all the way if we can."

It is such a different story to four years ago, when his sole purpose in life was to ensure Wanderers survived in the Premiership - a priority that brought scorn from the critics, who attacked him for fielding under-strength teams in the cup competitions. But Premiership stability, and with it the reward of a place in Europe, has given Allardyce the scope to expand his horizons.

"I sent a weakened team out and got criticised heavily for it," he said, recalling the flak he took for his pragmatic approach.

"In those times my priority was the Premiership and the Premiership only, because of the millions and millions of pounds it brings - it was the only priority the club had.

"With the small group of players I had, without the strength in depth and the quality I have now, the FA Cup became a low priority.

"The millions of pounds the Premiership brought to the club has got us to where we are now, so it proves Sam Allardyce was right again.

"Now I'd sooner get to the cup final than finish fourth in the Premiership, because it goes on everybody's CV that you've got there. And if you could win it - that, for this club, is now more important.

"And, having beaten Arsenal, it tells everybody that, if we can continue the way we are going and the draw is kind to us, we might be capable of doing it.

"It will certainly be difficult for anybody to get a result here."

Allardyce feared the loss of four players to the African Cup of Nations and mounting injury problems would put an intolerable strain on his squad.

But Wanderers got through January unbeaten, adding four more clean sheets to their already impressive total and maintained their challenge for a top six Premiership finish.

The danger is that they could become victims of their own success with the fifth round FA Cup tie on the weekend of February 18 sandwiched between the home and away legs of their UEFA Cup clash with Marseille.

By then, El-Hadji Diouf, Abdoulaye Faye, Radhi Jaidi and Jay Jay Okocha will be back and the injury situation might have eased, but, in the meantime, the understudies are keeping the good times rolling.

"The enjoyable part of what we are doing at the moment is that we are doing it with so few players," he added. "The players we've got are playing so well for themselves and for each other and continuing to cope with all the difficulties that we've got.

"I have to say the stand-ins are playing absolutely magnificently."