Blues striker Cameron Jerome aims to turn dream into reality

Cameron Jerome has dreamt of this moment. Rising up at the far post, he nods in a Carling Cup winner for Blues to end their 48-year wait for a major trophy.

Tomorrow, against Arsenal in a Wembley final, the striker will get his chance to make history.

Blues are tantalisingly close to that elusive piece of silverware — one they almost won before losing on penalties to Liverpool in 2001 — and Jerome is out to make the dream a reality.

It would propel the club on a par with neighbours Villa, who lost 2-1 to Manchester United in last year's final, and cement them as a top-flight club.

On the back of last season's ninth place in the Premier League, their highest finish for 51 years, Blues are on the up.

They are still in the quarter-final of the FA Cup and, while only three points separates them from the relegation zone, there is a firm belief they will beat the drop.

Jerome holds that faith and is aiming to turn a personally frustrating season into a fulfilling one.

He has netted just four times this term and recently lost his place to new-boy Obafemi Martins, a harsh reality in the goalscoring world.

But, on the eve of the biggest game of his career, the former Cardiff star has allowed himself to dream about becoming a St Andrew's hero.

He said: "Leading up to the game, every player must do it. It will cross your mind when you are relaxing at home or before you go to sleep. I know I do it myself.

Trophy

"It is a nice feeling to dream about that — but you can make that reality now. As a kid you grow up thinking I'd love to play at Wembley, love to play for England, love to play professional football, and it's just about achieving your dreams. At the moment a lot of people are doing that.

"It's up to us. It's 11 v 11 and we can't sit back and give Arsenal too much respect or admire them too much otherwise we will get embarrassed and punished.

"We've got to go out there and match them man for man and just play our game. We're in charge of our own destiny."

With the Arsenal camp reeling from injuries to Theo Walcott and Cesc Fabregas which have ruled out two of their most potent weapons, Blues can sniff a chance.

They are still underdogs and have not beaten Arsenal since Emile Heskey's last-gasp goal claimed a 2-1 win back in 2005.

Ironically, it was the game before the Gunners last won a trophy — the FA Cup — and all the talk has been about them ending their meagre six-year drought.

But while the national hype passes Blues by, Jerome reckon the minnows tag works in their favour.

"You can't put yourself under too much pressure otherwise you will freeze when you come to the big stage. A lot of people do that," said the 24-year-old.

"We can't get sucked into that mentality. We've got to approach it as another game. We are well aware of the stature of this match.

"Hopefully we will go there with the right attitude, which the manager has instilled in us, and we can go and play our game. Arsenal have struggled in the past when we have played our game and, if you can play the game and not the occasion, we can get a result.

"Everyone knows what a great side Arsenal are and how much they love to play football and if you stand and admire them they are a fantastic team.

"But every time we've played them we've matched them and given them a good game.

"The fans get behind us and Arsenal don't like it when people get in their faces.

"We've got to go in there and get among them and get stuck into them like we always do.

"This is a cup final on a neutral ground and anything can happen."

Blues have injury concerns over Alexander Hleb (knee) while James McFadden and Scott Dann are long-term absentees.

David Bentley, Colin Doyle and Curtis Davies are all cup-tied with Maik Taylor set to perform as back-up to Ben Foster.

Aside from Taylor, Jerome is the longest-serving player at St Andrew's, having joined from Cardiff for £4m in 2006, and the striker knows what tomorrow means to the club.

He said: "It's a major cup final and a lot of players don't get to play in them throughout their careers.

"A lot of top quality players get unlucky and do not achieve it.

"It is going to be a massive achievement for myself and the boys too, and everyone associated with Birmingham City.

"When we were in the quarter-final and beat Villa, it meant a lot for local bragging rights for the fans and for the boys to get one over Villa.

"Going into the two legs with West Ham, we knew we had a good chance of progressing and we got through a difficult task.

"Getting to the final was a massive achievement and the buzz around the place has been non-stop, people talking about how we haven't been to Wembley for such a long time.

Being the underdogs takes the pressure off.

"The pundits and everyone else are saying Arsenal are clear favourites and are expecting Birmingham just to go there and roll over and make the numbers up, but we are not thinking anything of the sort.

"We are going there confident that we can upset Arsenal and shock a lot of people."