Reading and Arsenal both fave a relatively short trip to Wembley to contest the first of this season's FA Cup semi-finals on Saturday. Arsenal, the FA Cup holders, come into the tie as arguably the form team in the country, they have only lost three times in 2015. Last time out Arsenal beat Burnley 1-0 at Turf Moor. Last Saturday's game was Arsenal's eighth Premier League win in a row. Reading, on the other hand, come into the game in quite bad form, they have only won twice since March. Reading's battle for Championship safety was dented on Tuesday when they lost 1-0 to Championship leaders Bournemouth, and the Royals are all but safe.  

Road to Wembley:

The FA Cup has come as a glimmer of hope for both sides, and both teams have had to win four games to get to this point. Reading have beaten four teams, three of which were in the same division as them and one in the division below. The Royals beat Huddersfield, Cardiff and Derby all away to set up a tie with giant killers Bradford City. Bradford took Reading to a replay, but Reading won it at home to book a first FA Cup semi-final in over 90 years.

Arsenal have played two Premier League teams, as well as two Championship teams, to book a fourth Wembley visit since April last year. Arsenal beat Hull, in a replay of last year's final, Brighton and Middlesborough to move into the sixth round. Arsenal were drawn away at Manchester United, in one of the ties of this season's FA Cup so far, and Arsenal triumphed at Old Trafford to get to Wembley.  

Team news:

Arsenal's Jack Wilshere and Mathieu Debuchy could both make appearances after recovering from an ankle and a shoulder injury respectively. Club captain Mikel Arteta and last year's FA Cup semi-final man of the match Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are the only absentees from the squad. In Arsene Wenger's press conference on Thursday, he announced that Wojciech Szczesny will start in goal at Wembley, like his compatriot Lukasz Fabianski last year. 

Reading's Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak will be in the squad after recovering from a calf injury, but Nathan Ake and Kwesi Appiah will be involved because they are cup tied. The Royals' two other loan players, Jamie Mackie and Nathaniel Chalobah, will be able to participate in the fixture though. 

Head-to-head statistics:

Arsenal have won all 12 of their last 12 games against Reading, three in the FA Cup, three in the League Cup and six in the Premier League. Arsenal have scored an average of more than three goals in these games. There have been 24 goals in just the last three games between Arsenal and Reading, including the goal fest that was the 7-5 League Cup game between the two sides in 2012. The last time the two teams met in the FA Cup was in 1987, when Arsenal won the game 3-1.