The Welsh duo, who are likely to come face to face on Saturday, shared a flat in Chigwell in 2008 when Gunter played for Tottenham, arch rivals of Ramsey’s Arsenal.

Despite Gunter moving on to pastures new, the pair have remained good friends and meet up regularly, with the Reading defender one of a small number of guests at Ramsey’s wedding last summer.

They were last together a couple of weeks ago for Wales’s 3-0 win over Israel in Haifa in a European Championship 2016 qualifier, and Gunter admits the FA Cup semi-final was on the agenda.

“We talked about it and had a few little jokes,” he said.

“It was mainly about which mates are going and stuff like that.

“We were mainly concentrating on Wales. He produced a good performance, but hopefully he doesn’t do the same on Saturday.

“He’s a very good player and a good friend but hopefully come 8pm on Saturday I’ll have more to smile about than him.”

Despite their respective teams often coming up against each other, the pair have been unfortunate in their hopes of sharing a pitch at the same time.

That is likely to change this weekend with both players an integral part of their respective teams.

Gunter said: “The one game I remember between us was when Tottenham scored two in the last minute to draw with Arsenal at the Emirates.

“We were still living together at the time so it was quite enjoyable going home after scoring two in the last two minutes.

“It’ll be strange on Saturday as I think that on the couple of occasions our teams have played either he’s started and I have not or when I have played he has been on the bench.”