Arsenal vs Reading team news: Danny Welbeck starts with Olivier Giroud dropped to the bench as Mathieu Debuchy returns from injury

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Danny Welbeck returns to lead the Arsenal attack as Arsene Wenger elects to makes three changes for the FA Cup semi-final against Reading.

Welbeck suffered a knee injury while on England duty, but had featured from the bench in the recent Premier League victories over Liverpool and Burnley. Despite Olivier Giroud’s rich vein of form, Wenger has elected to drop him to the bench in favour of Welbeck.

As expected, Wojciech Szczesny returns in goal in place of David Ospina, giving him another chance to try and reclaim the shirt that he lost at the start of the year, while Mathieu Debuchy is handed his first start since recovering from a dislocated shoulder.

Jack Wilshere is fit enough to return to the bench after recovering from his latest ankle injury, but Mikel Arteta, Hector Bellerin, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Abou Diaby do not feature.

Reading make two changes to their side, with one enforced and one a selection decision made by manager Steve Clarke.

Nathan Ake is cup-tied and Jem Karacan drops out of the starting line-up with Daniel Williams and Pavel Pogrebnyak coming back into the side, with Karacan name on the bench alongside former Everton striker Yakubu and top-scorer Simon Cox.

Line-ups:

Reading: Federici; Gunter, Obita, Pearce, Hector; Williams, Chalobah, McCleary, Robson-Kanu; Mackie, Pogrebnyak.

Subs: Andersen, Kelly, Cooper, Karacan, Norwood, Cox, Yakubu.

Arsenal: Szczesny; Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Coquelin, Ramsey; Sanchez, Ozil, Cazorla, Welbeck.

Subs: Ospina, Gabriel, Monreal, Flamini, Wilshere, Walcott, Giroud.