Nine years Arsenal have waited to lay their hands on a trophy, and Saturday could be the day they finally put those trophy drought ghosts to rest as the North London side take on Hull City in the final of the FA Cup at Wembley.
Where to Watch Live
The game is scheduled for a 5 pm BST (9.30 pm IST, 12.30 pm ET) start with live coverage on Star Sports 4 and Star Sports HD2. The final can also be watched via live streaming online HERE in India. Viewers in the UK can catch the action on ITV 1 or by live streaming HERE or HERE. Catch the game in the US on Fox Soccer or HERE, while Canada viewers can do the same on Sportsnet or HERE. Latin America viewers can live stream the action HERE, while the match can be live streamed in Australia HERE. Viewers in the Middle East and North Africa can watch the FA Cup final live online HERE.
Viewers around the world can keep up with the action and scores HERE or HERE.
The Gunners go into the final as the clear favourites against their fellow English Premier League side, but they will be wary of taking their eyes off the ball, having already suffered heartbreak three years ago when they crashed to an agonising defeat to Birmingham City in the League Cup final.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will, no doubt, warn his players against complacency. "To be favourites doesn't guarantee you anything," Wenger said. "It just means if you turn up on the day of the game with a good performance you have more chance of winning. So let's focus on turning up with a great performance.
"I don't believe we need any warning [about Hull]. We know that a final is a final, that Hull are a Premier League team, they can pass the ball, they can create chances. It's just down to us to perform well on the day of the game.
"I honestly don't feel there is any danger of complacency -- we know the difficulty of the task. If you look at our run in the FA Cup, we've had a hard run. We played against Tottenham, against Liverpool, against Everton, Wigan in the semifinal. Coventry was maybe a little bit easier, but overall if you look at the run we had it was very tough. We have done all this and we want to finish it now."
Of those games, Wigan gave Arsenal the hardest time, taking the Premier League team to penalties, before falling short, having already knocked Manchester City out in the quarterfinals.
Arsenal are likely to come up against a similar strategy against Hull as well, where they will have to find their way past a wall of defenders. Hull, playing their first ever FA Cup final, though, have plenty of quality going forward as well, and can hurt the Gunners on the counter-attack.
Bruce will probably tell his players not to concede early, and if they can score the first goal, they just might put the cat amongst the pigeons. "We're rank outsiders for the weekend," Hull City manager Steve Bruce said. "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.
"For me, things like that are why this is the greatest competition. There's always been shocks and it's a one-off game.
"The beauty of the competition is exactly what it is on Saturday. It's the mighty Arsenal with all their history, tradition, huge support and a huge club against the smaller club and the attraction is the ability of the smaller club to turn them over.
"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."
While winning the FA Cup will be like a fairy tale come true for Hull, Arsenal will probably head into the game just that little bit more desperate for victory – desperate not to trip over the final hurdle yet again, and end that long wait for silverware.
Team news: Arsenal: Apart from Theo Walcott, Arsene Wenger has a pretty full squad to choose from. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, though, is still a big doubt with a groin injury, while skipper Thomas Vermaelen is expected to overcome a knee problem.
Hull City: James Chester is a doubtful starter, but Allan McGregor, Paul McShane and Sone Aluko came out of last weekend's game against Everton without any issues. Robbie Brady returned to training on Monday and is hopeful of being involved. Forwards Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long are cup-tied.
Expected lineups: Arsenal: Fabianski; Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Arteta, Ramsey; Cazorla, Ozil, Podolski; Giroud.
Hull City: McGregor; Rosenior, Bruce, Davies, Figueroa; Elmohamady, Livermore, Huddlestone, Meyler; Fryatt, Aluko.
