Ahead of the FA Cup final 2014, Hull city manager Steve Bruce has stated that 11 players will be absolutely elated on the day, while. Having been part of FA Cup finals himself, Bruce is well aware of the mentality of the players who will be selected and those who will not be selected for the starting line-up. Bruce won the FA Cup while playing for Manchester United. He now has the opportunity to repeat the feat and join an elite group of people to have achieved this.

Hull city have a major hurdle to clear in the form of Arsenal, who will be more determined than ever to end the trophy drought. After not winning a major trophy for the last nine years, pressure is high Arsenal, but they also have the top-level experience required to perform in such big matches. Bruce is aware that his team will be going into the match as the underdogs. But he does not want to stop that from his players putting in a great performance. Hull come into the match on the back of the very poor run of form, which has seen them almost switch off since qualifying for the final after beating Sheffield United.

Bruce is aware that they need to become focused once again and very quickly.

“If you name your team well advance, you are going to disappoint 11 players for the entire week. If I do that, I’ll have 11 players ecstatic and 11 absolutely destroyed. Sir Alex would always leave it late for big games, and that was his way of keeping everyone on an even keel until shortly before kick-off. Mind you, it took me 20 years to get over it (snub in 1996). It’s something I’m not looking forward to,” said the former Manchester United defender.