Sutton’s former Arsenal youngster Roarie Deacon believes his team are capable of beating the Gunners and says it would be the biggest upset ever.
Deacon, who spent 10 years at Arsenal and grew up with the likes of Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wilshere, told the Daily Mirror the non-League side could pull off a shock victory in Monday’s FA Cup tie if they perform to their best.
They knocked Leeds United out in the previous round and Deacon says that has given them confidence ahead of Arsenal’s visit.
“We believe we can do it, 100%,” he said.
“Leeds brought a young team but there was still a few players who play in the Championship, so beating them gives us great confidence that we can beat Arsenal.
“You can’t get this far in the cup just by luck. We’ve shown that we can come back from 1-0 down, we’ve shown we can keep clean sheets, not be disheartened even when we draw and then go away and win.
“We’ve got a lot more to show, in the Arsenal game especially. I hope that we can go out there and show what we can do.
“I hope Arsenal will bring their big players – just not Sanchez! You want to play with Ozil and Sanchez but we also know how good they are. I think they’ll probably play a team similar to what they played at Southampton.
“No matter what team they put out, it will be full of internationals and we can’t worry about that. If we play our game, play at our best then we can win.”
Sutton famously produced one of the biggest cup shocks of all time when they knocked out Coventry City, who were then in the top flight, in 1989.
And Deacon believes it would be the greatest shock ever were his team to reach the quarter-finals.
“I think it would be the biggest upset of all time,” he declared.
“Sutton United beating Arsenal, most definitely. It would be the biggest upset. It would be spoken about for many, many, many years to come.