Gary Jones reckons the entire nation will be behind City tonight when they attempt to stun mighty Arsenal and reach the Capital One Cup semi-finals.

Valley Parade’s biggest crowd for over 50 years are dreaming of witnessing one of the greatest results in the club’s history. But the support will not stop there, according to the inspirational skipper.

“It’s going to be a great night for our fans but everyone’s going to be behind us,” said Jones. “We’ll have the whole of Yorkshire and probably the nation rooting for us.

“Everyone neutral will want us to win because we’re the massive underdogs.

“Arsenal have got some of the best players in Europe and they are scoring goals at will in this tournament.

“You don’t play against teams like that every week and it’s going to be a great occasion. For me personally, I’ll have my family there and I’m really looking forward to it.

“As a footballer you want to play against the best and tonight we will be.”

Sixty five places separate the teams but Jones insists City are brimming with confidence. They have lost only one of the ten games since the quarter-final draw was made.

He added: “Everything’s been building up for this game and there’s been a lot of talk. But we’ve had some decent results over the past few weeks.

“It’s been quite easy for me to switch off. We want promotion and that’s what we set out to achieve at the start of the season – this game’s a bonus.

“We can enjoy it, give it our best and it’s going to be a great spectacle. It’s a game that doesn’t come round very often and we want to make the most of it.

“We’re flying high in the league and playing some decent stuff.

“You never know in football what can happen and maybe we can upset all the odds on the night.”

Arsene Wenger tends to use many of his younger players in the competition but has hinted that the Arsenal line-up could be stronger than expected.

Wenger said: “We will put a team out with experienced players who have quality and who have a chance to win the game. The only decision I have certainly made is to leave out (Bacary) Sagna because he played with a bad ankle against West Brom.”