5,000 Shrewsbury Town fans travel for Arsenal clash

More than 5,000 travelling fans were setting off from Shropshire today dreaming of a giantkilling ahead of Shrewsbury Town's clash with Premier League giants Arsenal.

The players' coach left the Greenhous Meadow at about 9.30am, with official supporters' coaches due to leave Shrewsbury, Wellington, Wem and Oswestry at lunchtime today.

Operations manager Ian Bebbington said: "We have sold just over 5,000, we have got about 150 left out of the allocation.

"It is a magnificent effort – we average about 5,000 for our gates, so it's going to be like a home game."

He said that about 35 to 40 supporters' coaches would be going to the match.

Fans will be hoping for another historic night in a competition that has already served them well this season.

The League Two club has knocked out Championship outfit Derby County and Premier League new boys Swansea City in the early rounds of the competition.

And Arsenal fan Piers Morgan has admitted he is nervous about the game, expected to draw a crowd of up to 40,000.

Following the Blackburn game on Saturday, he told his 1.2 million followers on Twitter that he had just 'had a panic attack about Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday. That's how bad things have got'.

But Mr Bebbington said: "We have to remember Arsenal are a top four team. You can't underestimate them at all but I'm sure Graham Turner will prepare the team properly.

"It should just be a magnificent day for all going down there."