Hello and welcome to our coverage of the FA Cup final between Arsenal and Aston Villa at Wembley. It’s been a dismal few days for football, what with Sepp Blatter winning re-election yesterday, so let’s treat this as a prestigious palette-cleanser and a reminder that football isn’t all about shady back-room deals and FBI raids – it’s the glory game, where legends are made and history rewritten.

I'm in situ now at Wembley, thanks to my colleagues for filling in over the past hour. Wembley way is already pretty busy with the vast majority Arsenal fans so far. There's quite a few optimistic souls looking for spares at the foot of the steps.

Arsene Wenger revealed earlier this week that he came close to signing Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood during the early stages of his Arsenal reign. In the end Sherwood moved to Tottenham and the rest is history.

Wow.

One team who will be hoping for an Arsenal win today is Southampton, as it will put them in the qualification stages for next season's Europa League. Not everybody is too enthusiastic about the competition these days but Saints manager Ronald Koeman said he would like to be involved and they still have a chance to be. A win for Aston Villa today, meanwhile, would put them in the qualification stages.

Who will Arsenal pick as their striker today? Giroud, Walcott or Wright?

By going public with Christian Benteke's buy-out fee this week there was a definite sense that Tim Sherwood was trying to prepare Aston Villa fans for the inevitable this summer. If the Belgian is to leave, he could will hope it is as a hero and an FA Cup winner.

Arsenal have played at Wembley a lot recently. Coming into the game it's four times in just over a year and, out of those performances, they were only really convincing against Manchester City in the Community Shield at the start of the season. In their other games, against sides you would expect them to beat - Wigan, Hull and Reading - they have been taken to extra-time (and penalties by Wigan) before eventually coming through. Should we expect more of the same against Aston Villa today?

Prince William and David Cameron are Aston Villa fans, even if the latter sometimes forgets, but they have never seen Villa win the FA Cup. That's because the last time they claimed the trophy was way back in 1957. There was a time when they won it twice in just three season, unfortunaltely that was between 1895 and 1897.

Grealish takes a lot of creative responsibility but the real engine room of the midfield is Sherwood’s captain, Fabian Delph, who has also nailed down a regular role with England. Expect to see him try and break past the line of Cazorla and Coquelin as well as chip in defensively to keep Mesut Ozil at bay. At the start of this month, Sherwood even said: "I don't want to go over the top, but Fabian Delph - there's not a better midfielder in the country at the moment. He's got an array of talent. He's vital for us."

Sherwood had this to say about Grealish, who was a Villa season-ticket holder at the age of just four: "Without putting too much pressure on him, he’s coped with the pressure. When he’s been asked to step up he’s ticked the boxes. The bigger the stage, the better he’s been. There isn’t any bigger stage than this so I’m hoping he performs - otherwise we’ll sell him! He’s great - he loves playing, he doesn’t get affected, I don’t think he gets nervous. He’s not the type, he’s a terrific player. I think he realises the enormity. He’s been around Aston Villa fans all his life. Jack has never seen the club win a trophy in his years, so it’s a great opportunity.”

Aston Villa’s own Wilshere is of course Jack Grealish, the demonstrably talented young playmaker who at just 19 is coveted by England and Ireland. He shows a maturity and intelligence beyond his years and has become a leading light of Sherwood’s team having been sidelined by the joyless Lambert. He’s certainly enjoying his football now, and Arsenal would have taken note of his excellent performance in the semi-final against Liverpool when he had a hand in both goals.

The Arsenal midfield is a packed one. Jack Pitt-Brooke wrote this about how Arsenal really need to give Aaron Ramsey a central role if they are to seriously target more trophies in the coming seasons.

Arsene Wenger also spoke about Wilshere this week, responding to those comments regarding wanting to be wanted: "I made Jack Wilshere start at 17 years of age. That means that you cannot show a bigger desire for wanting a player and we have always extended his contract and we have been very patient with all his injuries. At some stage I think he must feel wanted. We always stood by him through every difficult moment. Does that mean we want him to stay here for a longer period? Yes, as we would like to benefit from his talent now. He has not played regularly since November, Jack. That is five or six months.”