There is a debate going on as to whether Arsenal were lucky to beat Reading and reach the FA Cup Final or not, and you could maybe have said the same thing after last year’s semifinal win over Wigan, but the fact is we DID win the game and we ARE going to be in the Final.
Even Aaron Ramsey, who was our Cup Final hero last season, seems to be relieved that we pulled through. He said to the FA: “We knew it was going to be a tough game, they showed great character to come back into it and we were on the ropes at times,”
“Obviously we had a bit of luck in the last goal but we’re delighted to be going through to another Wembley final.
“Reading made us work for it but we got through in the end. It doesn’t matter how, we’re in another final.”
Arsene Wenger was also simply very happy to have booked our place in the Final. He said on the Official Arsenal website: “It’s fantastic, – We have reached another final!
“We now want to put every effort in to win it, but we’re happy to be there and it’s another opportunity to share that with our fans and we want to keep the trophy and do everything we can do to it.
“It was a test of nerves because it was tense, it was difficult. We suffered a lot on the commitment front from the commitment of Reading and we needed a piece of luck.
“Overall we had a lot of possession but they were very organised and we struggled to find our goals.
“We didn’t panic when we went back to 1-1. We were maybe lucky when Pogrebnyak went through at 1-1, but Koscielny had an outstanding game and saved us from that opportunity.”
We all kno that we would much prefer to see Arsenal playing freeflowing beautiful football, but sometimes (or ALL the time!) it is the end result that matters, so if we have to suffer the occasional bad game – but still win – then C’est La Vie!