The kind of spat that gives the FA Cup its name, a rollicking 90 minutes full of feisty endeavour, petty grievances and the occasional outburst of good football ended with Chelsea, the Cup holders, out of the competition and left their conquerors favourites to lift the trophy on May 12th. Arsenal now meet Blackburn Rovers or Bolton Wanderers in the quarter-final.
Just five Englishmen started but this was a raw local London derby with six yellow cards in the first 42 minutes. Kensington-born Dennis Wise was the central irritation, but his fervour affected Nigerian Celestine Babayaro and Dutchman Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. A melee shortly before half-time featured those three players, with Wise and Hasselbaink booked and a left hook from Babayaro unseen by referee Graham Barber.
Arsenal's Thierry Henry was also booked during the flare-up, which briefly threatened to overwhelm the afternoon before the arrival of goals altered the players' perspective. Nevertheless, the Football Association will want to examine the video evidence.
Henry opened the scoring in the 55th minute after Lauren had been pushed over in the box by Chelsea substitute Jesper Gronkjaer. Hasselbaink equalised eight minutes later with a superb shot from 20 yards but when another Chelsea sub, Eidur Gudjohnsen, struck the Arsenal woodwork with a bicycle kick Chelsea may have sensed defeat. Fifteen minutes from the end Sylvain Wiltord, who had replaced Robert Pires, ensured the Chelsea reign was over, the same player completing the scoring with a fine snapshot in the 85th.
The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was open enough to call the Gudjohnsen effort "the turning point." But in a week when Dennis Bergkamp, Wiltord and Kanu all voiced their frustration, Wenger took solace yesterday from his side's response to Chelsea's bid to assume control.
"That kind of reaction made the difference today," said Wenger. "But you get a reaction from quality players." Of his disgruntled strikers he said: "I've always said that we have four world class forwards. That means two are always unhappy. I'm very happy with them all."
That Chelsea offered so little in attack was no great surprise to the visiting fans chanting Gronkjaer's name throughout. Gronkjaer, scorer of three goals in his three Chelsea games, was strangely confined to the bench until half-time. His manager Claudio Ranieri intimated that Gronkjaer was not fully fit.
Without him it was 30 minutes before David Seaman made a save, though Gianfranco Zola's ineffectiveness was due to the fact that the midfield was dominated by Patrick Vieira and Robert Pires. But it was only when Gronkjaer emerged to push Lauren in the back did Carlo Cudicini face a direct threat. Henry's penalty was taken coolly.
Henry nearly made it two then, but when Hasselbaink collected a short pass from Gustavo Poyet, he held off Lee Dixon and swung a beautiful curling shot around Stepanovs, beyond Seaman and into the top corner. Some goal.
Chelsea were buoyed. A flurry of pressure followed and from a Wise corner Gudjohnsen hit wood.
When Marcel Desailly failed to intercept Igor Stepanovs' long clearance, Wiltord seized on the ball and scooped it over the advanced Cudicini. There were 15 minutes left but Chelsea did little in them. Instead Wiltord nabbed a second, drilling in at the near post.
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Luzhny, Stepanovs, Cole, Ljungberg, Vieira, Pires (Wiltord 69), Lauren, Henry, Bergkamp (Vivas 81). Subs Not Used: Manninger, Malz, Kanu. Booked: Dixon, Henry, Stepanovs. Goals: Henry 52 pen, Wiltord 74, 85.
Chelsea: Cudicini, Ferrer (Stanic 83), Desailly, Terry, Babayaro, Jokanovic, Dalla Bona (Gudjohnsen 46), Wise, Poyet, Hasselbaink, Zola (Gronkjaer 46). Subs Not Used: deGoey, Leboeuf. Booked: Wise, Hasselbaink, Jokanovic. Goals: Hasselbaink 62. Attendance: 38,096.
Referee: G Barber (Tring).
