The first of the FA Cup semi-finals takes place on Saturday afternoon as Championship side Reading face holders Arsenal at Wembley.

The Royals have not won since booking their place in the last four, and are still not completely safe from the threat of relegation, though they are eight points clear of twenty-second place Millwall with four games left to play.

They swept aside Bradford City in their quarter-final replay a month ago, having already eliminated second-tier trio Huddersfield Town, Cardiff City and Derby County.

Manager Steve Clarke, who himself has tasted cup success with Chelsea both as a player in 1997 and a coach ten years later, will be unable to call upon defender Nathan Ake who is cup-tied, while Nathaniel Chalobah is unlikely to feature.

Pavel Pogrebnyak is priced at 17.0 (16/1) to open the scoring with Bet 365, with Simon Cox available at the same price with the same firm.

Reading are priced at 15.0 (14/1) to win the game inside ninety minutes with Bet 365, who price the draw at 6.5 (11/2) while Arsenal are firm favourites at 1.25 (1/4) with most firms.

In stark contrast to their opponents, the Gunners have a 100% record since knocking Manchester United out in the last round of this competition.

As well as beating their great Premier League rivals, Arsene Wenger’s men have knocked out Hull City – the team they beat in last year’s final, Brighton and Hove Albion and Middlesbrough.

Jack Wilshere is in line to make his first team return here but is likely to start on the bench, Laurent Koscielny has overcome a muscle problem and should feature and Wojciech Sczcesny is expect to start in goal though Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Mikel Arteta are both out.

In-form striker Olivier Giroud is favourite to get the first goal of the game at 4.5 (7/2) with Betfred, with Alexis Sanchez a 5.0 (4/1) shot with the same firm.

The North Londoners have a 100% record against the Berkshire side, while the last three meetings between the two have produced no fewer than twenty-four goals.

With this in mind, you may be tempted to back the Gunners to score at least three times here at 1/1 (2.0) with Coral.