Jonathan Dearth holds the FA Cup at Arsenal's new Emirates stadium

Jonathan Dearth is mayor of Islington, the London borough which is home to the Gunners and their Highbury ground.

But the charities' marketing manager, who grew up in Newport, says he is a die-hard fan of Welsh football.

"I know in my head I should be supporting Arsenal but in my heart it's got to be Cardiff City," he said.

The Liberal Democrat councillor, who took up his one-year mayoral role in May, will be sitting with a friend in the Arsenal end on Saturday.

"I would like to have got tickets from Cardiff but I'm not a member of the club so my friend Michael who is coming up from Cardiff will be relatively sedate in the Arsenal end," said the 38-year-old.

It's going to be tricky without Jason Koumas in the team but I do think Cardiff can nick a victory Jonathan Dearth Koumas barred from FA Cup

The politician is hoping that Championship side Cardiff will scrape a one-all draw at the home of the Premiership giants and is hoping to get tickets for a replay at Ninian Park.

The game is being billed as a rematch of the famous 1927 FA Cup final when Cardiff squeezed a controversial goal past Arsenal's Welsh goalkeeper, Dan Lewis, to bring the trophy to Wales for the first and only time.

"It's going to be tricky without Jason Koumas in the team but I do think Cardiff can nick a victory, " said Mr Dearth.

"I think Cameron Jerome may sneak the winning goal".

Mr Dearth used to be a Newport County fan until the club dropped out of the Football League in the 1980s.

The mayor met his hero Ryan Giggs supporting his team abroad

Since then he has focused on supporting Wales, following the national side at fixtures around the world and even meeting Ryan Giggs - one of his all-time heroes along with John Toshack and Ian Rush - when he stayed in the same hotel as the side in Minsk.

He has even taken wife Cath - a non-Wales fan from Middlesbrough - on some of the overseas football trips.

Mr Dearth said as a politician he was a big fan of Arsenal and all that they have contributed to the local community in Islington, including the new Emirates Stadium which is to open later this year.

"The new stadium is regenerating the local area and Arsenal have been quite fantastic about it," he explained.

"But come Saturday I'll be cheering for the Bluebirds and nobody else."