The Tilehurst-born striker found the net seven times in 16 league games when he first arrived, but has scored just one goal in 21 appearances since.

The forward has recently found himself on the bench due to the fine form of Pavel Pogrebnyak and Jamie Mackie.

Cox would love to be in the starting line-up on Saturday, but admits that he has no complaints.

He said: “My form hasn’t been good enough since the turn of the year, goals-wise or performance-wise.

“I don’t deserve my place in the team at the moment, while Jamie (Mackie) and Pavel (Pogrebnyak) have been firing.

“I’ve been playing a support act and I’m happy to do so at the minute. It’s a team game, a 22-man squad game and we’re all backing each other.”

He continued: “If they keep scoring then I’ve got no complaints. I want to play every game but I don’t deserve to at the moment.

“This is football. It’s not black and white. There are always going to be times when you’re out of form.

“It’s whether you can contribute enough to stay in the team. Sometimes you might not play well but the team wins and you stay in by default. It’s a squad game and that’s been shown in this season’s competition.”

Cox insists Reading have what it takes to beat a star-studded Arsenal side, but accepts their opponents will have to have an off day at Wembley.

The 27-year-old played against Arsenal at West Brom and admits he was a little bit intimidated by his opponents – something he doesn’t envisage happening this time.

He said: “When I played against Arsenal at the Emirates for the first time I had a couple of chances, but I was pretty much in awe of where I was and who I was playing against so maybe I got a little bit frantic.

“But I’ve been to Wembley before, with Ireland. I know the stage, it’s a beautiful stadium and everyone wants to play there. As long as we get the butterflies out then we’ll be fine.

“They’re a team full of world-class players and it’ll be a case of us being at our best and them having an off day to give us a chance.

“It’s going to be a good occasion and everyone wants to play so the manager’s selection will be interesting.”

“We’ve played well in the FA Cup and we’ve had good success from people coming off the bench – Nick Blackman scored at Huddersfield, Hal (Robson-Kanu) at Cardiff and the Yak got his first goal against Derby.

“It’s not just the 11 starters, it’s the two or three that come on who have seen us through in recent times.”