Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor: Let's win the FA Cup final for the fans

The forward is eager to give the claret and blues faithful something to shout about after five years of battling against relegation in the Premier League.

"The biggest thing is for the fans," said the 28-year-old. "It's been five years of hurt really for them, going through a relegation battle every season.

"It's not been nice.

"So if we can win this for them, it will be something to be happy about."

Agbonlahor has made more than 300 league appearances for the club he grew up supporting as a boy and is one of only three surviving squad members from Villa's last final appearance at Wembley, the 2010 League Cup defeat to Manchester United.

He admits the past season, in which the club finished one place above the relegation zone, has been "scary" but hopes victory over Arsenal today can be a turning point.

"The thought of a football club like this going down, good people losing their jobs all around the whole club – it's not nice," he said.

"As a club we need to start sorting that out in the summer and then get this club back to where they deserve to be.

"Hopefully this is a start. If everything is positive in the FA cup final then hopefully in pre-season we can bring in new players to help this club improve and get to where we deserve to be."

Villa are big underdogs and priced as far out as 6-1 by some bookmakers to beat the Gunners.

Yet Agbonlahor believes they can pull off the shock.

"Arsenal are a great side, they are playing with such flair," he said. "We know it's going to be a really tough game, you can't hide away from that fact.

"But with the squad we have we've shown at times this season we can play with the big boys."

The forward admits winning the cup with his boyhood club would mean everything.

"I've still got to pinch myself," he said. "Being from here, as a young lad watching FA Cup finals at the old Wembley you never think you've got a chance to play in one.

"Maybe in 20 to 30 years' time people will be looking back at today and still talking about what happened.

"It's still all a bit crazy for me."