Regardless of whether we are in the final or not I have always loved the FA Cup! There is something extra special about it so to see my beloved Arsenal lift it for the third time in four years with victory over Chelsea felt amazing!
Although Alexis Sanchez's fifth-minute opener caused controversy, Arsenal were more than worthy of the victory. Our defence led by a surprisingly outstanding performance by club captain Per Mertesacker were superb in the way they stifled Chelsea's attack at Wembley. The makeshift back three of Mertesacker, Nacho Monreal and Rob Holding really were excellent!
Mesut Ozil has been under-fire at times this season for his performances, but he really stepped up to the mark and was excellent throughout. It was nearly the complete performance by Arsenal and their chances were boosted further when Victor Moses was dismissed for a second yellow card.
But when Diego Costa levelled the scores after 76 minutes I did begin to wonder whether having not converted our dominance into more goals would come back to haunt us. Fortunately Aaron Ramsey was on hand to fire home an FA Cup Final winner three minutes later, just as he had done against Hull back in 2014.
Although I'd prefer to focus on the positives of a fine FA Cup win, there was a hint of frustration on the day as I was left wondering why we couldn't have performed like this on a more consistent basis this season. We outplayed league champions Chelsea in a 3-0 win at the Emirates and thoroughly deserved the cup win, yet we finished outside of the top four and put in some very average performances in other games. That makes things all the more frustrating in terms of our overall season, but winning the FA Cup still feels fantastic.
The victory over Chelsea saw us become the most successful club in FA Cup history after lifting the trophy for a 13th time. If this is to be manager Arsene Wenger's last game then what a performance to bow out on, but I think he'll be with us for a while yet.
We thoroughly deserved the win, but it is hard to argue with the fact that we opened the scoring in rather fortuitous circumstances. Sanchez's initial pass over the top was blocked before it hit the Chilean, who then raced onto it before slotting the ball under Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Sanchez's effort was initially ruled out for offside against Aaron Ramsey, but referee Anthony Taylor overruled his assistant and gave the goal. Ramsey didn't touch the ball and I don't feel he was interfering with play either. However, there was an element of fortune as it looked like the ball had hit Sanchez's hands in the build-up to the goal. It certainly wasn't intentional, but Chelsea fans were understandably annoyed as I admit I probably would have been had it happened at the other end.
We continued to control the game and really should have put the result beyond doubt before half-time, but fortunately those chances didn't come back to haunt us later.
Ozil latched onto Sanchez's pass before lifting a shot beyond Courtois, but Chelsea defender Gary Cahill was on hand to superbly clear the German's effort off the line.
Danny Welbeck's header hit a post before the striker was later thwarted by Courtois as Arsenal tried to find a second goal. Courtois was again called into action before the break as he produced a fine save to keep out Granit Xhaka's volley.
Chelsea improved in the second half with N'Golo Kante's deflected strike stinging the palms of David Ospina in the Arsenal goal. The Colombian goalkeeper was called into action again soon after and produced an excellent save to keep out Moses' effort.
Pedro curled a shot just wide as Arsenal's dominant performance started to look under threat of being undone, but Arsenal held firm and every single player stood up to be counted to ensure it would be the Gunners' day to remember.
Arsenal also continued to pose an attacking threat with Hector Bellerin forcing a decent save out of Courtois before the referee made his second big call of the game. Moses cut into the box before going down under a supposed challenge by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but there was no contact and the Chelsea man was booked for diving and subsequently sent off as it was his second yellow.
It looked as though things were going our way until Costa levelled the scores 14 minutes from time. The Spanish forward controlled the ball with his chest before his shot deflected in off Mertesacker.
Although we eventually ran out deserved winners, I started to worry about Chelsea nicking a victory out of nowhere after Costa's equaliser. Instead we grabbed the decisive goal with just 11 minutes left to play. Substitute Olivier Giroud ran onto the ball before cutting it back across goal for Ramsey to head home and send us into raptures.
It could have been three soon after, but Bellerin's effort went agonisingly wide of a post and that miss very nearly proved costly. But Diego Costa was unable to add his second as Ospina produced a decent save to deny him from close range.
Ozil raced into the box late on and turned the defender before seeing his shot hit a post, but it didn't matter as Arsenal held on to become deserved FA Cup winners!
OPPOSITION VIEW
Chelsea fan John Feeney felt the opening goal should have been disallowed, but admitted that the better side won on the day.
"Chelsea came out of the blocks slow and didn't seem to be playing with the same intensity as Arsenal," said Feeney. "Maybe they were complacent with Arsenal's injuries in defence.
"Although I thought Arsenal's first goal should have been ruled out for Sanchez's handball, I thought they could have been three or four up by half-time.
"Chelsea were sloppy, not helped by the high pressing tactics used by Arsenal. I felt Chelsea were getting back into the game in the second half, and even though we scored after the red card, Moses was rightly sent off for an embarrassing dive and made it much easier for Arsenal to counter towards the end.
"Overall Arsenal deserved their win, but Chelsea will still be happy with their league success."
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
We definitely need to improve in the league and no Champions League football next season will be hard to take, while the uncertainty of Wenger's future remains in the balance.
The Gunners boss revealed his future should be clear by Wednesday or Thursday and, although my gut instinct thinks he will stay, realistically anything could happen.
Regardless of the games prior to it, the FA Cup Final win over Chelsea will definitely live long in the memory. It was a top quality performance and we proved we can match them in a big game. The two sides meet again in the Community Shield in August, but so far it is Wenger 2 Conte 1.
Improvements definitely need to be made over the summer, but that FA Cup victory really did feel sweet!
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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