Before a match, it’s not usual for a manager to act as if his side is guaranteed a win.

Certainly, if your side is struggling in the Championship and facing a team they’ve never beaten before it would seem to be an odd time to buck that trend, but that’s just what Reading’s manager Steve Clarke did as he stated that is side *will* beat Arsenal on Saturday at Wembley.

When we beat Arsenal we have to wait for four weeks to play the cup final,” Clarke said.

When challenged if he meant ‘when‘ and not ‘if‘ he replied “Of course. There wasn’t a slip of the tongue.”

It’s easy to see this game as a banana skin.

All the stats we’ve been reading are the kind of thing that make me want to curl up into a ball and hide.

But this is a new Arsenal and I’m betting my sanity on them knowing what they have to do and being able to actually pull it off.

Anything else is unimaginable. No matter what Clarke thinks.