Nine-year-old Junior Gunner Malachi enjoyed the surprise of a lifetime last week when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain paid him a visit with some special news.
The Arsenal forward sought out the Edgware youngster in his seat at Emirates Stadium at half-time of the game against Sunderland. He then invited Malachi pitchside to reveal that he had been randomly selected from more than 34,000 Junior Gunners to be club's mascot for the FA Cup final against Aston Villa on Saturday.
Oxlade-Chamberlain presented him with an Arsenal strip and cup final tickets in front of the Emirates crowd and explained that would visit the Gunners' changing room before the game at Wembley and lead them on to the pitch for kick-off.
"We really enjoyed surprising Malachi and letting him know he’d be our mascot for the FA Cup final," Oxlade-Chamberlain said afterwards. "He’s obviously a huge Arsenal fan and I’m sure he’ll have a fantastic time at Wembley that he’ll remember for a long time.”
Malachi and his family had been told that he had won tickets to the Sunderland game kindly donated by Indesit, presenting partner of the Junior Gunners, which he was thrilled about. Little did he know that the Arsenal had something else in store for him!
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