Reading may not be the hardest opponents in the world for Arsenal to face today, especially on form and history, but the Gunners also know that last year Wigan took us right down to the wire before going through to the Final on penalties.
This year will be different, according to Mikel Arteta, and he believes that Arsenal are a better team better prepared, and even thinks we are more arrogant!
“We are very determined now and we believe that we can beat any team,” the Gunners captain said. “We have a little of the arrogance that you need before the game, where you are sure if you do the right things you will win the game.
“We’ve got the best squad that we’ve had for years – since I’ve been here, for sure the best squad in numbers and quality. We’re in a really good position now compared to where we were in November.
“The experience last year was a bit stressful because we were the big dogs and we had to win it,” he added. “In the semi-final and the final things went against us at the start and we had to get back into the game to win from a losing position.
“That was a big experience and this week we have prepared really well, we know a lot about Reading’s threats and where we can hurt them, and I think everybody’s going to be very aware because we don’t want to go through that again. If we can score early, it will be much better.”
It will be much better for the fans too, as we had to endure the torture of nearly seeing Arsenal lose the semi-final (and the Final!) last year. Please don’t put us through that again Mikel…..
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