Bradford City winger Zavon Hines struggles to contain his excitement at Arsenal encounter

City’s hugely-anticipated Capital One Cup quarter-final with the Gunners is still over five weeks away and Phil Parkinson has warned his players not to get distracted in the busy period leading up to it.

Hines will try to push any Arsenal thoughts to the back of his mind but knows it won’t be easy.

The winger said: “It’s going to be impossible to not talk about it but we’ve got to focus on what we’ve got to do between now and then. Our main aim is to get promoted at the end of the season and that’s why we’ve got to concentrate on every game.”

Hines has played against Arsenal twice before with West Ham. He came off the bench in a 2-2 draw at Upton Park three years ago and featured the full 90 minutes in a 3-0 Robin Van Persie-inspired home defeat in January last year.

He added: “It’s always special to play against someone I’ve supported all my life and it will be different this time with Bradford because of the occasion. I’m really excited.

“Growing up, my heroes were Thierry Henry and Ian Wright. But I’ve still got a few players that I like there so it will be good to come up against them, if they don’t change their team.

“Arsenal are obviously a really good side and it’s going to be a test for all of us. But we’ve got to focus on ourselves, enjoy the moment and try to please the fans, because they’ve been amazing.”

Hines typified City’s non-stop commitment at Wigan on Tuesday, spending most of the night in an unfamiliar defensive role.

But he did have their best chance of scoring in open play against the Premier League hosts with a surging run from one end to the other before his shot was fortuitously blocked by Ali Al Habsi.

Hines said: “He dived away from it and the ball hit him on his backside. I was a bit upset, which you could see because I was hitting the floor.

“I still think about it because as a winger/striker, I expect to score every chance I get, but I enjoyed every minute of the game.”