Jerome confident of upset
Jerome is a big fan of the Gunners’ style and knows that the Blues will need to be at their peak to match Arsene Wenger’s title-chasing outfit, but he says the Birmingham players are determined to cause an upset.
“Arsenal are a fantastic team and everyone knows how much they love to play football if you stand and admire them and let them,” said Jerome.
“But every time we’ve played them, we’ve matched them and given them a good game and this is a cup final, on a neutral ground and anything can happen.
“Arsenal are obviously the bookies’ favourites but we are calm and confident at what we’ve got in our dressing room and confident we can cause an upset.
“We’ve got to go in there and get amongst them and get stuck into them like we always do.
“If we can go and do that, and settle the game down a bit and maybe take the sting out of it and try and play like we have done in recent months, I am sure we can make it into an interesting game.”
Jerome believes the opening stages of tomorrow’s final could have a major impact on the outcome.
“There are bound to be a few nerves flying around but it’s good to get settled in for the first 10- 15 minutes of the game and just let it pan out from there,” he said.
“We are well aware that Arsenal are an energetic counter-attacking team and they move the ball around superbly well and very quickly.
“Hopefully we will start well, settle into the game and then start playing our own game from there.
“There is no point in sitting back in a cup final. You might as well go and have a go and anything can happen.
“We are in charge of our own destiny and if we play the right game, I’m sure we’ll come up trumps.”
Birmingham boss Alex McLeish said: “It’s my first cup final in England and I’d love it to be my first success.
“I hope it’s not once in a lifetime for the players but it’s possible that they may not get this far again so they’ve got to do everything in their power to win this trophy.”
Former Arsenal player Alexander Hleb remains Birmingham’s biggest injury doubt with a knee problem. With on-loan Tottenham winger David Bentley cup-tied having played against the Gunners with Spurs, Lee Bowyer could earn a recall to the starting line-up.
McLeish hopes his side can benefit from his own cup final experiences.
“Of course it’s valuable having played and managed in major finals up in Scotland. I do have a fair bit of experience in certain situations and if that’s needed on the day then hopefully something like that can come to the fore.
“I played my first game against England many years ago at Hampden and I was young midfielder at that time, believe it or not, up against two wily characters in Trevor Brooking and Terry McDermott.
“I just never got into it at all. I suppose playing against two great players had something to do with that.
“We don’t want the occasion to pass anybody by and to be honest we’ve got a lot of experience in that squad so the players shouldn’t be fazed.”
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