Three FA Cup finals in four years and a team so consistently excellent that finishing fifth is seen as a major disappointment. What a gloriously happy accident that my seven year old self should have chosen to support the side in the red shirts and white sleeves all those very many years ago. Was I seduced by Alan Hudson’s flowing locks? By Peter Osgood’s bushy grips? Not on your Nelly. Not while Bob Wilson gazed flint eyed from beneath his goalie’s cap, not while Frank McLintock strode the muddy pitches like a colossus, defining my callow concept of masculinity, and never for a moment would the brutish Ron Harris nor the agricultural David Webb inspire or seduce me while Charlie George flicked the lazy fringe from his eyes and strolled with a careless nonchalance from the pitch and into my dreams.
The strand which connects this ageing, aching old man to the bewildered, excited child is unbroken. Nothing else in my life has lasted as long nor enjoyed so many reinventions. The cup final morning in 1971 runs seamlessly forward through cruel uncaring time to this expectant May morning. It is a path littered with noble victories and bitter defeats. From George Armstrong through Alan Ball to Liam Brady the team evolved, my heroes changed faces, shirt numbers and positions but The Arsenal remained constant. From David O’ Leary to Tony Adams, David Rocastle to Anders Limpar, Dennis Bergkamp to Tomáš Rosický the thread has unspooled until here we are today licking our lips at the prospect of watching Mesut Özil and Aaron Ramsey on the Wembley turf in the most hallowed of our footballing traditions, the final of the FA Cup.
Am I really as excited as a seven year old? Is it even possible to compare this creaking wreck of a man with the fresh elasticity of an unspoiled boy? Only in this. Only on cup final morning. And no matter how the machinations of mega powerful international money men nor the spiteful insolence of the modern internet supporter try to force me from the game, I cannot conceive of a cup final morning which won’t matter to me – as long as Arsenal are on the ticket.
Today the ineffable powers which control the football fates have dealt us an unenviable hand. Losing players to injury, suspension and illness in the week before such a game and all of them from the same vital position on the pitch is a wicked doom to befall Arsène Wenger. The re-jigged formation which so altered our league form will now either need to be scrapped or placed into the hands of players unfamiliar with one another’s strengths and shortcomings. Players who will face the champions of England, a side in their pomp, playing with supreme confidence and who’s boundless riches have seen them assemble a collection of the world’s very best.
So can we approach the match with hope in our hearts? Dare we dream of victory? Of wresting back our record from Manchester United? I say emphatically yes. Whatever the shortcomings of our back five in terms of familiarity and match fitness they are still fine footballers. Not only that but the pointy end of our side is producing some of the most eye catching play we’ve seen in years. Aaron and Granit understand each other as well as they ever have, Mesut and Alexis are both at their peerless best right now and either Danny’s pace and guile or Larry’s strength and finishing can provide the perfect foil for both. With Theo and AOC waiting in the wings to provide blistering finishing pace to the game we have no reason to fear the outcome.
So to those of you at Wembley today I wish you may have a final to remember. A day to stitch to the tapestry of your supporting life. A cup final which reaches back to past glories just as it will stretch on into the future. I hope to be back from work in time to join the worldwide television audience. My thoughts will, however, be with my little nephew for whom this game marks the end of his first season supporting the Arsenal. I envy him that leap into the unknown, the foundations of nostalgia he lays today on which his life cheering the boys in red and white will be built.
It’s just another final for us old fogeys but for him this is the biggest match ever. The greatest moment in his supporting life. These years are, for him, the golden age. What a journey he has set out on, I pray it begins in harmony and with a victory.
Positively Arsenal 
pundits making excuses for cfc
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Not bad at all
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blistering first half. I feel so nervous.
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did alexis handle the ball, or did it come off his chest
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hope arsenal players are getting stocked up with energy tables at half time, need the same sort of tempo again in the second half
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BBC doing everything they can to dismiss how well Arsenal have played so far.
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I was thinking the same thing ed, worst thing we can do is sit back.
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so which do we expect first in the second half
arsenal goal
anthony fucking taylor is a cunt to give cfc a soft penalty
anthony fucking taylor is a cunt to send off ramsey, second yellow
anthony fucking taylor is a cunt to actually book a cfc player
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Wenger really got his tactics spot on the first half, ozil and alexis and to an extent welbeck are taking up positions between the lines that has cfc all over the place.
xhaka and ramsey doing very well in cm, and our 3 at the back have been solid.
need the same again in second half, and for our wingbacks to come to the party
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You listen to them at half time? Why?
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not me, I meant i hope the Arsenal swig the energy drinks.
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Ramsey so calm, so intelligent
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arsenal on the back foot so far this half
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per not for the first time with the saving tackle
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Come on you Gunners!
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ospina saves from moses, per clears
we really need to get hold of the ball for a few minutes, so far this half we are giving it away cheaply
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so why isn’t costa booked for that show of dissent – thats right, Anthony Fucking Taylor is a CUNT
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now holding booked, it really is one rule for our players and a different one for everyone else, Anthony Fucking Taylor is a Cunt
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eh??? Taylor???
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So that is a yellow but none of the first half Chelsea fouls were. That’s what so annoys people. Consistency. Lack of.
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for fucks sake bellerin, two men free and he has his cross half blocked, fuck fuck fuck. Hector really has not been sharp in this game
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come on Arsenal take one of these chances and Chelsea are knackered.
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cfc finally get player booked, moses for foul on welbeck
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ah ozil, so unlike him but a simple pass to ramsey is way overhit
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my guts are like a washing machine. Going to do my socks while this games on.
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pedro wide from edge of the area
i wonder should we switch ox and hector
kante booked for bringing down ramsey
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ramsey cross half blocked out for a corner
xhaka overhits ball in
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60 minutes gone, first sub of the game, snake on, matic off
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if bellerin could cross today we would have this game won by now
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Steww thanks for the great write up as per usual… not at all taken for granted… so many interesting angles and personal experiences…
thanks to all for the updates since am not watching and as usual don’t trust BBC live text for all the truth.
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ed you have started… snake… lol….
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oh god I’m so nervous and still about half an hour to go,
bellerin shot not good enough after a great break by arsenal, shot lacked power
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per playing a captains part today
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monreal with a proper clearing challenge
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Taylor surprises us all
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I am a fucking wreck. These close shaves are killing me.
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glad Per is there fresh and able to intelligently slot into the team….
Glad AW did not pay attention to those that wanted him released!
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My God, Anthony Fucking Taylor is a CUNT has turned down a CFC penalty claim and rightly booked moses for a dive, his second yellow and he is off.
I always rated Anthony Fucking Taylor is a CUNT, and no one can claim otherwise
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For once those cheating bastards get their desserts.
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Fucking dive indeed. Good call Taylor.
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fackin ada.
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God I’m shaking, need us to score again so I can calm the fuck down
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Ed, I safely can… I don’t care the reason why maybe they think AWs last game and are trying to be fair…
just glad so far and hope the will allow the better side to win on merit
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should that have been an Arsenal penalty
just seen it again, no, not in a million years.
pedro off, willian on
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well ts, the first half cfc players would not get booked no matter what, but once he booked one of them, he has been fair, for a change.
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Fuck
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COME ON ARSENAL COME ON ARSENAL COME ON ARSENAL
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awful, costa scores to make it 1-1, ospina maybe should have saved it
15 minutes plus stoppage time to be played, might soon be time for a sub or two, but who to take off, and who to bring on
our first sub is on
welbeck off, giroud on
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Can’t miss four clear chances and not regret it against a side of Chelsea quality
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yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Ramseyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
alexis to giroud, to ramsey with a great header, great timing of his run, him and giroud have a great understanding
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