CHRIS Gunter hopes Reading FC can join the list of FA Cup's giant killers they face Manchester United at Old Trafford tomorrow (12.30pm ko, live BT Sport).

The competition has thrown up some incredible upsets in the past where the underdogs somehow prevail against the nailed-on favourites.

One of the most recent examples came when Royals legend Phil Parkinson's Bradford City punished Chelsea at Stamford Bridge two years ago.

Reading are no strangers to a cup upset either after Gylfi Sigurdsson and Shane Long scored at Anfield to dump Liverpool out of the cup in 2010.

And Gunter choses to remain realistic about Reading's chances of toppling Jose Mourinho's star-studded United side, insisting they will not change their style of play.

"We are looking forward to it," asserted Gunter. "It's a tough place to go and it's a big game for the club but it's the next game for us and we are on a good run so we are going there with confidence.

"Our job as footballers is to go and play against whoever is on the opposite team, we would be looking forward to it whoever it was against but it's a chance for us to go and test ourselves.

"We've been playing well this season so it's an opportunity for us to go and see what stage we are at and see how we get on.

"We go there and we'll do what we have been working on. Once that whistle goes you won't see a different Reading than if you watched us week in and week out in the league.

"It will be a different test because we are playing a top class team but that won't change the way we go about it.

"There will be nothing changing from us, I can't see us going away from what we have been doing for the first half of the season.

"If on the day we play well and execute it well then we'll see where it takes us."

Wales international Gunter recognises the FA Cup is a prime opportunity for smaller teams to play against England's elite sides, and he insisted Royals will relish the test.

"People won't think we can get a result," continued Gunter.

"We firmly believe if we go there and play how we have been doing and we get a little bit of luck then we will certainly give ourselves a chance.

"There are always one or two upsets in the FA Cup and hopefully we can be one of them."

Royals have enjoyed great success in the FA Cup in recent years, taking Arsenal to extra-time in the semi-finals in 2015 before crashing out against Alan Pardew's Crystal Palace in last year's quarter-finals.

However, those cup runs were overshadowed by lowly finishes in the league.

"It certainly wasn't a concious decision to focus on the cup," declared Gunter. "That's just the way it turned out.

"The first round really you just go and play, you're not thinking of the latter stages.

"But quite quickly in the cup you do tend to get quite far down the line without playing too many games and that happened again last season.

"It was nice but it didn't substitute the league form really.

"Those two seasons were still disappointing."

Saturday's mouthwatering tie will be also be a big occasion for Manchester United legend and Royals boss Jaap Stam, who returns to his former stomping ground for the first time as a manager.

But Gunter insisted that Stam has never considered himself to be better than any of the Reading squad, adding: "Everybody knows what he was like as a player, quite quickly you can gauge how he's getting across his ideas.

"The way he conducts himself, he has the balance almost perfect. The door is always open but he's the leader and he has that respect.

"If you need a chat he is there as well. He leads by respect and the change that happened this summer it would be tough for any manager.

"I don't think he can be underestimated, he has been fantastic.

"There are a lot of things that could have gone wrong at the start of the season."