As much as Arsenal fans were hoping to get some revenge on Bradford in the FA Cup semi-final, we can’t really complain about having to face Championship strugglers Reading at Wembley instead. The Royals are currently 17th in England’s second tier but are only 10 points clear of the relegation zone.
The Reading boss Steve Clarke doesn’t think that that gap is yet big enough for his team to relax ahead of the FA Cup semi-final in a month’s time: “It’s a long time since we’ve been in the semi-finals as a club, but before that we’ve got some important games in the league. We need to get some points.” he said on the BBC.
“It’s another big pay-day for a club that’s been struggling financially for a couple of years, and it’s a nice thing for the new owners who’ve just come in.
“Everyone connected with the club thought we’d be challenging to return to the Premier League. That’s not happened for whatever reason and we’ll hopefully be more competitive next season.
“The players are delighted but I don’t know if there’ll be too many celebrations at this stage.”
Reading have actually done really well to get this far, having been drawn away in every single round so far, with wins against fellow Championship sides Huddersfield, Cardiff and Derby before getting Bradford in the Quarters. I don’t Arsenal will be unduly worried about this at the moment as they have MUCH bigger fish to fry in the intervening four weeks!