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Arsenal managed to secure a place in the FA Cup final

Arsenal managed to secure a place in the FA Cup final for the second consecutive campaign after beating Championship outfit Reading in extra time.

Despite being the overwhelming favourites, Arsenal were given a huge scare in the match and midfielder Aaron Ramsey acknowledged that the club are extremely lucky to reach the FA Cup final. Arsenal are the defending champions after having beaten Hull City in last season’s edition. This time around, they’ll be facing either Aston Villa or Liverpool in the final. Alexis Sanchez has been the hero for Arsenal on the night after he scored two goals to confirm a place in the final.

The Chilean winger opened the scoring in the first half but Reading were back on level terms soon into the second-half after a goal from McCleary. From then on, Arsenal had several nervy moments and were pegged back on several occasions by the team a division below them. Despite having been on an excellent run of form over the last two months, Arsenal failed to cope with the threat of Reading, who may not have had the best of possession but they made use of the little ball that they had in the 120 minutes. A mistake by goalkeeper Adam Federici allowed Sanchez to score the winner in extra time.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game but they came out and showed great character to come back into it.We were on the ropes at times but dealt with it and had a bit of luck with the last goal.On these occasions things like that happen but Reading made us work for this today," said Ramsey. After having ended the club’s trophy drought last season, Arsenal will already be thinking about adding more trophies – in the form of the FA Cup – to the collection.