Football: FA Cup final - Arsenal v Manchester United.

Kick off is 3pm GMT, so there is just 30 mins to go. Should be a cracking game and i expect a few fireworks. The both finished behind Chelsea in the league and will want to finish the season with winning something.

Henry is not playing, nor is Sol Campbell, but Sendoros has done well in his place. What surprised me was Ryan Giggs is on the bench, i thought he would have been starting for sure...

yer, 25 minutes to go now

am suprised Giggs aint playing, is fletcher in on his place?

i think Reyes has to play a really good game,

have we got the starting line ups?

Yeah Fletcher is playing and Fergie is playing a 4-3-3...

There was talks that the start might get delayed due to traffic congestion, i dunno how true that is...

Teams:

Arsenal: Lehmann, Lauren, Toure, Senderos, Cole, Fabregas, Vieira, Gilberto, Pires, Bergkamp, Reyes.

Manchester United: Carroll, Brown, Ferdinand, Silvestre, O'Shea, Fletcher, Keane, Scholes, Ronaldo, van Nistelrooy, Rooney.

ARSENAL and Manchester United meet in the fifth and last FA Cup Final to be staged at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium before the return to a rebuilt Wembley. The pair are simply the most successful clubs ever in the oldest football competition in the world, yet they were both also-rans in this season's race for the Premiership title, and are vying for their only piece of silverware from the 2004/05 campaign.

The Gunners have won the Cup nine times, and are playing in a record 17th final. They've missed only one of the five finals to be played in Cardiff and are hoping to lift the trophy for the third time in four seasons. They've also lost only one of their last 25 games played in the competition (24 rounds). The only time they've been knocked out in advance of the final since the year 2000 was last season's 1-0 semi-final loss to Manchester United at Villa Park, when Paul Scholes scored the winner on 3 April 2004.

Under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal have completed the 'double' twice, won the FA Cup three times and the Premier League three times. The Londoners have lost only five of 53 bone fide FA Cup matches (44 Rounds) under the current manager and Wenger has guided them to the final for the fifth time in his nine years in charge at Highbury. The opposing managers are now tied at 11 wins a piece in the head to head, if you count the 2003 FA Community Shield (decided on penalties) as a United win.

This will be their fifth meeting this season. Arsenal won the Community Shield but then lost a highly significant League clash at Old Trafford. The 2-0 defeat on 24 October brought an end to Arsenal's record breaking unbeaten run in the Premiership. They were denied a 50th game without defeat in the top flight, were no longer recognised as invincible and began a mid-season slump. Defeat in the Carling Cup followed when both sides fielded under studies, and then there was a 2-4 League loss at Highbury, which extinguished any fading hopes of retaining the title, but it didn't kill off their ambitions to pip United to the runners-up berth.


The 2-1 defeat, away to Birmingham, on the last day of the season was Arsenal's only loss in 15 League and Cup matches since the end of February - 12 of which were won (counting the goalless FA Cup replay with Sheffield United and decided on penalties, as a Gunners win).

BBC Sport

MANCHESTER UNITED defend the trophy they won twelve months ago when beating Millwall 3-0, but even though they've lifted the silverware a record 11 times, and like Arsenal, are competing in their 17th final, they've never retained the FA Cup.

Sir Alex Ferguson is the most successful manager in FA Cup history, winning five times (1990, 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2004). He will be leading out a team for the seventh time, United having also been runners-up to Everton (1-0) in 1995. Under the 63 year Scot, United have also won the Champions League once, the Premiership title eight times, the Cup Winners Cup, the League Cup, the Super Cup and the Inter-Continental Cup. Should United lose, Arsene Wenger would become the second most successful manager outright in the FA Cup with four victories.

United are unbeaten in 12 FA Cup matches (11 rounds). The fifth round loss to Arsenal two years ago is their only defeat in 15 FA Cup outings. A 59th minute goal by Shola Ameobi for Newcastle in last month's semi-final on this ground, is the only time United have conceded in this Cup run and ended a string of seven clean sheets - the second longest such sequence in the 134-year history of the competition.

If he plays, United skipper Roy Keane will be making his seventh FA Cup Final appearance - one of the previous six was for Nottingham Forest. Only Arthur Kinnaird has appeared in more finals - nine in all between 1873 and 1883 for The Wanderers and Old Etonians. Ryan Giggs has graced the final on five occasions, and like Keane has collected four winners' medals. Should they both add another, they would join Charles Wollaston (The Wanderers 1872-1878), Kinniard and James Forrest (Blackburn Rovers 1884-1891) at the top of the list with five each. Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Phil Neville each have three winners' medals in their possession.

These clubs have played each other 11 times in the FA Cup, but one of those was a replay. They are level pegging at five wins a piece. It is only the second time they've met in the final. In 1979 Arsenal won a dramatic final, devoid of flowing football but noted for its explosive conclusion. Brian Talbot and Frank Stapleton gave Terry Neill's Gunners a 2-0 half time lead, but Gordon McQueen reduced the arrears four times from time and Sammy McIlroy equalised two minutes later for Dave Sexton's side. An euphoric Alan Sunderland then scored the winner at the death, in front of 100,000.

BBC Sport

sendoros has done well to keep the Campbell out the team, huge game for Faberegas.

noticed heinze aint on, is he injured?

whats your prediction?

Heinze and Neville both out injured, so Man U's back four have had a change around. Their putting Silvestre in the middle with Ferdy, O'shea on the left and Brown on the right.

I think Man United will beat them 2-1 or 3-1.

I dunno what it is but i just have a feeling. Rooney will have a great game, he is just the type of player for the big occasion and expect Man United to go after Arsenal and not just sit back.

thats the 90 minutes nearly up, man utd seem to have non stop possesion at the edge of arsenls box, its like pin ball with the ball up there, van nistlerooy nearly scored, rooney has hit the post, ferdininad got a goal chopped off.

and arsenal have just brought on van persie and have also got ljunberg on, they are going for it too now

lehmann is playing great

arsenal have wone 5 - 4 penalties

paul scholes was the one who missed it and after man utd being th better team, arsenal managed to withstand all that pressure and win at the pressure moment

Arsenal got lucky imo..

Man U was the better side on the day, but they never got the breaks. The clearance by Freddie on the line when Van Horse did the header saved them for sure. Lehman had his best game i have seen him play and if it wasn't for him also Man U would have won. Man U only have themselfs to blame and i bet Fergie is piss they never won a thing all season.

hehe, yip, Fergie will be raging, winning nothing this season is sure to drive him up the wall especially as it was Arsenal who beat them, like man utd beating them 3 times before means nothing in the end but the arsenal beating them did mean something as they won the cup.

man utd, i thought they looked really good, arsenal didnt really create any chances.

but for arsenal, what a change that was, they didn not concede