It's fair to say we're due an entertaining FA Cup final and we might just get it in Cardiff on Saturday afternoon.





The calibre of player Liverpool have in their ranks combined with the way Alan Pardew's team like to play football, we could get a really smashing game.
For me it depends on West Ham. If they are the same team that played the first-half of the semi-final against Boro at Villa Park, I don't think they have a chance.

They were nervy on the day and didn't get their game going until the second half. That was still good enough to get past Middlesbrough. It won't be against Liverpool.


Liverpool come into the Final as favourites and I won't be having an argument with any of the bookies about that. Man-for-man, Rafa Benitez's side are stronger.
But I've won cup finals as an underdog and so have many others, so there is no reason for anybody connected to West Ham to travel to Wales in a negative mood.

It's all about what happens on the day. You could be up against the best team in the world but, as with Tottenham last week, you just don't know how a team is going to wake up.


I don't believe you can win an FA Cup Final in the first 20 minutes but you can certainly lose one. That period will be crucial to West Ham's afternoon. They may not have anywhere near as much pressure on them as they did at the Millennium Stadium last year but it is still a huge game for them and mentally they've got to be right.


You'd expect Liverpool to settle first, to get their passing game going and Steven Gerrard on the ball. If the Hammers lose a goal then it's a long way back. Yet they have proved game opposition all year. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has enjoyed watching them and a 10th-placed finish on their return to the top flight is fantastic.


I also want to praise the manager for the job he has done. But it's not only what he’s done on the field, it's the way he goes about his business off it too. Alan has invited me into his office on a couple of occasions when we've been at Upton Park and I've really enjoyed talking to him. Not everybody is that open and friendly.

Follow up:

Five days before West Ham were weaving a way out of the Championship last year, Liverpool were being crowned Champions of Europe. It's another way of seeing how far West Ham have come. But people have also asked me whether it shows a lack of progress as far as Liverpool are concerned. I have to say I don't think it does.


A third-placed finish - with a record points total in the Premiership - and, if they are successful on Saturday afternoon, a domestic trophy can be seen as progress. You can't win the Champions League every year. What they can win, though, is the FA Cup if their big players like Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Peter Crouch et al perform and hopefully they will.


Liverpool are, in my opinion, geared up to challenge for the title... apart from up front. That department is sub-standard. But Benitez has been smart in the market before and I expect he will be again this summer.


West Ham have quality themselves, though. Dean Ashton, Marlon Harewood and Yossi Benayoun all have goals in them, as have Teddy Sheringham and Bobby Zamora on the bench.


Hayden Mullins, suspended along with Luis Garcia, will be a big loss in midfield but Xabi Alonso is by no means 100% fit so Liverpool aren’t at full power themselves. Gerrard, well, he's head and shoulders above everyone.


The bookies are leaning towards Liverpool, and as I said before that's fair enough, but I can't rule out a West Ham win. Whoever gets the best start will be in the driving seat.


Source: Andy Gray on Sky Sports