Getting back to the time when we always made the semi-final.

During the early years of this century Arsenal’s appearance in FA Cup semi-finals was pretty much established as the norm. In fact from 1998 onwards Arsenal made it seven semi-finals in eight years.

Since then things have slipped a bit, largely because of the financial restraints of the building of the new stadium, but now we’re back for the second year running. And long may it continue.

Hopefully this weekend the nerves that I felt last year in the semi at Wembley won’t be stretched quite as much. The knowledge of how many years it was since we had last won something seemed a heavy weight on my head, and I really would have been upset had we missed out via that penalty shoot out.

It also didn’t help that I had a couple of anti-Wenger “supporters” behind me, endlessly moaning and complaining. What was particularly odd was their singular lack of knowledge about the players and the club. In the end I stopped wondering why they were there and started wondering how they ever got a ticket.

Which brings me to the next observation. This year it seems the tickets have become much harder to get. Last year there was demand, but not the level of demand we have had this year. Goodness knows what it is going to be like to get a ticket for the final (always assuming we don’t have the biggest upset in the history of Arsenal semi-finals).

But everything points to an Arsenal win. We’ve only once been knocked out in the semi-finals by a lower league club (Sunderland, who went on to win the cup), and we’re currently doing brilliantly, winning match after match, while Reading are having a fairly rough ride in the lower reaches of the Championship. They also had to play on Tuesday as well as last weekend. We’ve had a free week.

Indeed the days when there were more players out injured than actually available seem to have gone and it seems that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is the only player who is still getting treatment. Arteta is not yet fully match fit, and of course Diaby will not be risked, but otherwise it is a full squad.

In fact some high quality players are not even going to make it onto the bench. Debuchy, Chambers, Gibbs, Flamini, Wilshere, Gabriel, Rosicky, Gnabry, Walcott, and Welbeck have all been available but not starting recently, and only seven of them can be listed. One of those is going to be Ospina, and we’ve got ten other names up there. Missing out from the sub bench when fit, is not something first team players at Arsenal have been used to for some time.

As for the team… well the boss could either go with the same team that has been doing the job so well in the last couple of months, or use this as the chance to let a few other players get a run out before the game against Chelsea next week.

In favour of keeping the team the same is the fact that we are not playing mid-week games as well as weekend games, and this current team is getting very used to playing alongside each other. Against that is the fact that next week it is Chelsea, and we have to win that to have even a fantasy notion of winning the league (which of course would still be dependent on Chelsea slipping up elsewhere).

I don’t think I can seriously say I expect us to win the league, but looking at the bench this way makes me realise just how strong this squad is getting. We now have 11 players who have first team experience and ability who most of us would not feel uneasy about seeing playing in a match.

I am not too sure any of them is going to leave this summer, and I would expect us to buy at least one or two others in the summer. Plus, we have coming up through the ranks the likes of Zelalem, Hayden, Bielik, Sanogo and Akpom. We’re going to need more seats in the substitutes section.

Maybe Arsenal also need another competition to enter to give all these guys games. Certainly I would expect next season’s league cup squad to be a lot more experienced than it has been in days past.

So, back to this weekend. I’d expect pretty much the same team as against Burnley, with just the change of goalkeeper. And I’d expect us to win 2-0. If we get a couple of early goals, we could knock in a few more, but if Reading keep it very tight, 2-0 could see us through without too much worry.

And then the final. This the fourth visit to Wembley in the past year (semi, final, Community Shield, and now a semi). It’s getting to be a habit.