FA Cup 2013/14: Preview of the Arsenal and Hull Final

It seems a long time ago that Exeweb attended the extra-preliminary round of the FA Cup. Back in August and featured Frimley Green at home to Ash United. With 737 teams taking part, with even at Guernsey taking part for their first time,  we’re now down to the last 2. Arsenal will play Hull City on Saturday 17th May with a kick off at 5pm. The winners will get £1.8m in prize money and the runners-up get £900k.

Arsenal

Mikel Arteta, talking on their club website , believes winning the final can spark further success for the Gunners:-

We don’t need to convince anyone we can win it. But what I can tell you is that we are very determined to do it because it’s a great opportunity for us to win a trophy, we’ve worked really hard to get in this position and we don’t want to waste it.

Everybody’s preparation has been top drawer this week and we are ready for it because it’s a great event for us and the club.

Arsenal’s Provisional squad: Szczesny, Fabianski, Sagna, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Monreal, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Rosicky, Arteta, Flamini, Diaby, Ramsey, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Ozil, Kallstrom, Podolski, Giroud.

The road to Wembley for Arsenal

Semi-final		Wigan Athletic	1 – 1		Arsenal (Arsenal win 4-2 on penalties)
6th Round		Arsenal	4 – 1		Everton
5th Round		Arsenal	2 – 1		Liverpool
4th Round		Arsenal	4 – 0		Coventry City
3rd Round		Arsenal	2 – 0		Tottenham Hotspur

Jack Wilshere has said:-

We don’t have to prove we have leaders to win this – we just have to win it.

Hull City

Plenty of excitement in Hull as the Tigers go to Wembley for their first ever FA Cup Final. Having secured their Premiership status they can now full concentrate on the Cup. They go in to the game as the underdogs. A fact that manager Steve Bruce relishes:-

Of course we’re rank outsiders for the weekend. I think that is the actual beauty of the FA Cup. It’s like what we saw last year. Manchester City were huge favourites but Wigan went and won the thing.

Of course Arsenal are clear favourites on Saturday, but for a club like ours to take on the mighty Arsenal has a ring to it which is what the FA Cup is all about.

We have to hope that we can do that and we have every belief that we can. It’s a classic FA Cup tie – one of the big teams against one of the smaller teams. That brings a little bit of the glamour back to the competition along with what Wigan did last year.

That said to me that we had a chance. We were never going to win the Premier League, but I asked if we could win six games in the FA Cup. We’ve won five so far. Can we add the sixth? It would be terrific if we could.

I think playing at Wembley in the semi-final has certainly helped us in terms of we know what to expect. The semi-final was a wonderful occasion but the final will dwarf it. The reality is that it’s a one-off game.

The FA Cup Final is a place where heroes are made. Who can be the hero and win us the cup? When we’re all growing up, that is what everybody dreams about. Everybody enjoys a shock in the FA Cup. Apart from Arsenal fans, I’m sure the rest of the world will be rooting for Hull.

Hull City’s Provisional squad: McGregor, Harper, Rosenior, Figueroa, Bruce, McShane, Faye, Davies, Chester, Elmohamady, Meyler, Huddlestone, Koren, Livermore, Quinn, Brady, Boyd, Aluko, Fryatt, Sagbo.

The road to Wembley for Hull City

Semi-final		Hull City	5 – 3		Sheffield United
6th Round		Hull City	3 – 0		Sunderland AFC
5th Round Replay		Hull City	2 – 1		Brighton & Hove Albion
5th Round		Brighton & Hove Albion	1 – 1		Hull City
4th Round		Southend United	0 – 2		Hull City
3rd Round		Middlesbrough	0 – 2		Hull City

Hull City Robbie Brady is fighting to be fit for the game and said:-

It would mean the world to be involved and it would be the biggest day of my career. It’s going to be a massive day for the club and everybody concerned – it’s something very exciting.

Lee Probert will be the man in the middle, more detail at http://www.exeweb.com/2014/04/17/lee-probert-to-referee-the-fa-cup-final/

Brand new FA Cup to be presented to the winners. http://www.exeweb.com/2014/05/16/fa-cup-201314-new-fa-cup-to-be-presented-on-saturday/