It should be straightforward: Arsenal head to Wembley in top form, Hull have been struggling, so Arsene Wenger, in all likelihood, will land that elusive trophy. Right? Wrong. Cup finals never play out as smoothly as you hope. Tensions and anxieties have a habit of affecting performances and Wenger will be aware that the  biggest threat to his ambitions comes from within. In many ways, Arsenal are the ones who will stop Arsenal winning. Complacency, more than anything, is their biggest opponent now and the comfortable 3-0 win they recorded at Hull last month might actually jeopardise their chances, rather than providing a pointer to success. Reason to be cheerful: Arsenal are big favourites to beat Hull at Wembley and win the FA Cup . Relaxed: Jack Wilshere and Co were all smiles in training ahead of the final at Wembley . Head up: Arsene Wenger hopes to end Arsenal's nine-year wait for a trophy on Saturday . Liverpool . were in a similar position in 2006. We went to the last FA Cup final at . the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff as long odds-on favourites to brush . aside West Ham and the vast majority who tuned in thought it would be a . formality. Nobody . said anything like that in our dressing room. There was no sign of . cockiness or arrogance but, deep down, maybe we believed that would be . the case, too. After all, we had enjoyed a strong finish to the . Barclays Premier League  campaign, including a comfortable 2-1 win over . West Ham. Rafa . Benitez made a number of changes that night at Upton Park but, even . though we finished with 10 men after Luis Garcia was sent off, we were . never seriously pressed. With our strongest team out in Cardiff three . weeks later, it should have been a breeze. How wrong we were. For some reason, we never got going and paid the heaviest price for a dreadful start,  trailing 2-0. Maybe . subconsciously we were overconfident and only an extraordinary . performance from Steven Gerrard helped save the day, as we scrambled . over the line on penalties. So . the warning signs are there. What also prevents you having unshakeable . confidence in Arsenal is previous games of this nature: the ghosts of . the 2011 League  Cup final against Birmingham still haunt Wenger, while . they struggled to get past Wigan in this year’s semi-final. They . needed penalties to win then, having looked at one point as if they . would crash out. It should also be remembered Arsenal have yet to win a . game outright at the new Wembley, having lost a 2009 FA Cup semi-final . to Chelsea. If . this were a Premier League game, you wouldn’t foresee anything other . than an Arsenal win as Wenger’s side have been ruthlessly efficient in . dispatching inferior opponents, but the stage, the stakes and the . pressure mean there have to be doubts on Saturday afternoon. Nightmare: The last time Arsenal reached a Wembley final, they lost 2-1 to Birmingham in the League Cup . Underdogs: Birmingham lifted the Carling Cup to extend Arsenal's trophy-less stretch . Rounded: Didier Drogba scores for Chelsea against Arsenal in the 2009 FA Cup semi-final at Wembley . For . Hull to win, they need to make it a physical game, as Arsenal still . fail to deal with such demands. They will miss their cup-tied strikers, . Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long, but perhaps it will give Steve Bruce the . chance to spring a surprise with his tactics. He has used a three-man . defence at times this season but will he change to accommodate whoever . plays up front? Bruce . will have Jake Livermore and Tom Huddlestone, two former Tottenham men, . sitting in the engine room, trying to orchestrate a win. If they can . launch counter-attacks, Arsenal might find themselves in difficulty. If . Hull were to open the scoring, it would really test the character of . Wenger’s men. Arsenal . are guaranteed to have plenty of possession, but if Hull get everyone . behind the ball, it won’t be easy for the favourites to find a way . through — Wembley is a slow pitch and requires patience, which is why . the first goal will be crucial. Any doubts Arsenal have about themselves . will surface if they go behind. Back to fitness: Aaron Ramsey was on the scoresheet as Arsenal cruised past Hull in their Premier League clash . Making plans? A sign in Islington watns of road closures the day after the FA Cup final . In charge: Hull manager Steve Bruce has led his team to Premier League safety and the cup final . However, . with Aaron Ramsey back and in great form — where would the title have . gone had he stayed fit? — Arsenal should win and it would be nice to see . Wenger lift a trophy once more after all he has done for our game. I . have the utmost respect and admiration for him and his reign needs . another moment to savour before he moves on. Equally, . there are few English managers in the game with trophies on their CV. Looking at the final Premier League table, it was  alarming to realise . that of the 20 managers who finished the season, only five were English . and none has lifted a major honour. Delight: Liverpool were given a huge scare before beating West Ham on penalties in the 2006 FA Cup final . Late and great: Steven Gerrard's injury-time strike rescued Liverpool as they won on penalties . Pushed aside: Hull City will be without cup-tied striker Nikica Jelavic at Wembley . End of season: Striker Shane Long will also miss the showpiece in north London . Bruce, who has done an excellent job this season, now has a glorious opportunity to put that right.Given . the influx of foreign owners and coaches, it would be fitting to see . him hoist the trophy and join a select group who have won the FA Cup as a . player and manager. There . is no doubt Bruce has been deeply disappointed with the way Hull’s form . has tailed off. Wembley has clearly been a distraction. Should . Arsenal take their eye off the ball, though, they will be wound . up to take advantage — and make sure it is anything but straightforward. Engine: Tom Huddlestone (left) and Jake Livermore (right) will be at the heart of Hull's midfield . On board: Livermore leads the Hull players onto their flight at Humberside Airport . Farewell to the peerless Puyol . The curtain comes down this weekend on the career of Carles Puyol, one of the  all-time great defenders. Puyol’s retirement will be a blow to everyone at Barcelona. The club are losing an icon, his  team-mates are losing a leader and the supporters are losing a player who represented their values. Tiki-taka is the term you associate with Barcelona but you wouldn’t necessarily use that to describe Puyol, who is tough, uncompromising with an indomitable spirit. Those qualities, however, are what I believe made him special. Playing as a central defender for Barcelona cannot be easy. Yes, they are a great team, but the way they attack leaves defenders exposed and it speaks volumes for his ability that he was as important to Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering team as Xavi, Leo Messi and Andres Iniesta. He was the man of steel who led them into battle. Goodbye: Barcelona will bid farewell to Carles Puyol at the end of this season . Glittering: Puyol won six La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues with the Catalans . Having . won almost every major honour in football — the Europa League is all . that is missing from what would be the perfect set — Puyol bows out with . one of finest CVs you could wish to see and he is the perfect example . to every player of what you can achieve if you have desire, persistence . and are prepared to work. He . always had a ferocious will to win and determination — and don’t . underestimate the influence he had on the magicians around him. As someone who played in my position, Puyol will forever have my respect.
Arsenal face Hull in FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday .
Arsene Wenger's side will look to end nine-year trophy drought .
Gunners were beaten by Birmingham in 2011 Carling Cup final at Wembley .
Liverpool v West Ham in 2006 proved that cup finals are never easy .
It should be straightforward: Arsenal head to Wembley in top form, Hull have been struggling, so Arsene Wenger, in all likelihood, will land that elusive trophy. Right? Wrong. Cup finals never play out as smoothly as you hope. Tensions and anxieties have a habit of affecting performances and Wenger will be aware that the biggest threat to his ambitions comes from within. In many ways, Arsenal are the ones who will stop Arsenal winning. Complacency, more than anything, is their biggest opponent now and the comfortable 3-0 win they recorded at Hull last month might actually jeopardise their chances, rather than providing a pointer to success. Reason to be cheerful: Arsenal are big favourites to beat Hull at Wembley and win the FA Cup . Relaxed: Jack Wilshere and Co were all smiles in training ahead of the final at Wembley . Head up: Arsene Wenger hopes to end Arsenal's nine-year wait for a trophy on Saturday . Liverpool . were in a similar position in 2006. We went to the last FA Cup final at . the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff as long odds-on favourites to brush . aside West Ham and the vast majority who tuned in thought it would be a . formality. Nobody . said anything like that in our dressing room. There was no sign of . cockiness or arrogance but, deep down, maybe we believed that would be . the case, too. After all, we had enjoyed a strong finish to the . Barclays Premier League  campaign, including a comfortable 2-1 win over . West Ham. Rafa . Benitez made a number of changes that night at Upton Park but, even . though we finished with 10 men after Luis Garcia was sent off, we were . never seriously pressed. With our strongest team out in Cardiff three . weeks later, it should have been a breeze. How wrong we were. For some reason, we never got going and paid the heaviest price for a dreadful start, trailing 2-0. Maybe . subconsciously we were overconfident and only an extraordinary . performance from Steven Gerrard helped save the day, as we scrambled . over the line on penalties. So . the warning signs are there. What also prevents you having unshakeable . confidence in Arsenal is previous games of this nature: the ghosts of . the 2011 League  Cup final against Birmingham still haunt Wenger, while . they struggled to get past Wigan in this year’s semi-final. They . needed penalties to win then, having looked at one point as if they . would crash out. It should also be remembered Arsenal have yet to win a . game outright at the new Wembley, having lost a 2009 FA Cup semi-final . to Chelsea. If . this were a Premier League game, you wouldn’t foresee anything other . than an Arsenal win as Wenger’s side have been ruthlessly efficient in . dispatching inferior opponents, but the stage, the stakes and the . pressure mean there have to be doubts on Saturday afternoon. Nightmare: The last time Arsenal reached a Wembley final, they lost 2-1 to Birmingham in the League Cup . Underdogs: Birmingham lifted the Carling Cup to extend Arsenal's trophy-less stretch . Rounded: Didier Drogba scores for Chelsea against Arsenal in the 2009 FA Cup semi-final at Wembley . For . Hull to win, they need to make it a physical game, as Arsenal still . fail to deal with such demands. They will miss their cup-tied strikers, . Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long, but perhaps it will give Steve Bruce the . chance to spring a surprise with his tactics. He has used a three-man . defence at times this season but will he change to accommodate whoever . plays up front? Bruce . will have Jake Livermore and Tom Huddlestone, two former Tottenham men, . sitting in the engine room, trying to orchestrate a win. If they can . launch counter-attacks, Arsenal might find themselves in difficulty. If . Hull were to open the scoring, it would really test the character of . Wenger’s men. Arsenal . are guaranteed to have plenty of possession, but if Hull get everyone . behind the ball, it won’t be easy for the favourites to find a way . through — Wembley is a slow pitch and requires patience, which is why . the first goal will be crucial. Any doubts Arsenal have about themselves . will surface if they go behind. Back to fitness: Aaron Ramsey was on the scoresheet as Arsenal cruised past Hull in their Premier League clash . Making plans? A sign in Islington watns of road closures the day after the FA Cup final . In charge: Hull manager Steve Bruce has led his team to Premier League safety and the cup final . However, . with Aaron Ramsey back and in great form — where would the title have . gone had he stayed fit? — Arsenal should win and it would be nice to see . Wenger lift a trophy once more after all he has done for our game. I . have the utmost respect and admiration for him and his reign needs . another moment to savour before he moves on. Equally, . there are few English managers in the game with trophies on their CV. Looking at the final Premier League table, it was  alarming to realise . that of the 20 managers who finished the season, only five were English . and none has lifted a major honour. Delight: Liverpool were given a huge scare before beating West Ham on penalties in the 2006 FA Cup final . Late and great: Steven Gerrard's injury-time strike rescued Liverpool as they won on penalties . Pushed aside: Hull City will be without cup-tied striker Nikica Jelavic at Wembley . End of season: Striker Shane Long will also miss the showpiece in north London . Bruce, who has done an excellent job this season, now has a glorious opportunity to put that right.Given . the influx of foreign owners and coaches, it would be fitting to see . him hoist the trophy and join a select group who have won the FA Cup as a . player and manager. There . is no doubt Bruce has been deeply disappointed with the way Hull’s form . has tailed off. Wembley has clearly been a distraction. Should . Arsenal take their eye off the ball, though, they will be wound . up to take advantage — and make sure it is anything but straightforward. Engine: Tom Huddlestone (left) and Jake Livermore (right) will be at the heart of Hull's midfield . On board: Livermore leads the Hull players onto their flight at Humberside Airport . Farewell to the peerless Puyol . The curtain comes down this weekend on the career of Carles Puyol, one of the  all-time great defenders. Puyol’s retirement will be a blow to everyone at Barcelona. The club are losing an icon, his  team-mates are losing a leader and the supporters are losing a player who represented their values. Tiki-taka is the term you associate with Barcelona but you wouldn’t necessarily use that to describe Puyol, who is tough, uncompromising with an indomitable spirit. Those qualities, however, are what I believe made him special. Playing as a central defender for Barcelona cannot be easy. Yes, they are a great team, but the way they attack leaves defenders exposed and it speaks volumes for his ability that he was as important to Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering team as Xavi, Leo Messi and Andres Iniesta. He was the man of steel who led them into battle. Goodbye: Barcelona will bid farewell to Carles Puyol at the end of this season . Glittering: Puyol won six La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues with the Catalans . Having . won almost every major honour in football — the Europa League is all . that is missing from what would be the perfect set — Puyol bows out with . one of finest CVs you could wish to see and he is the perfect example . to every player of what you can achieve if you have desire, persistence . and are prepared to work. He . always had a ferocious will to win and determination — and don’t . underestimate the influence he had on the magicians around him. As someone who played in my position, Puyol will forever have my respect.
Arsene Wenger hopes to end Arsenal's nine-year wait for a trophy on Saturday . Liverpool . were last FA Cup final at . the Millennium Stadium in including a comfortable 2-1 win over . West Ham. Arsenal win as Wenger’s side have been ruthlessly Wembley final, they lost 2-1 to Birmingham in the Carling Cup to extend Arsenal's trophy-less semi-final at Wembley . For . Hull to win, they