By Myles Palmer
Most FA Cup Finals are 50/50 games and Cardiff will be no exception.
Ranieri’s Blues are a flair team with tons of firepower.
They have experience in key positions and a goalkeeper, Carlo Cudicini, who could make as many saves as Henchoz and Westerveld did last year.
However, Arsenal are superior mentally,and maybe athletically.
Wenger’s heroes have been playing cup finals twice a week and have handled the pressure very well.
And their main pressure has been the title race, not Cardiff, although the FA Cup Final is always a nice game to win.
There will be THOUSANDS of previews of this game. It’s difficult to write anything original about it, so I’ll just type a few lines off the top of my head. (Don’t I always?)
Two questions stand out, really.Tony Adams and Thierry Henry.
Will Arsene play Adams-Campbell or Keown-Campbell?
Personally, I’d play Keown because he can handle Hasselbaink, in as much as anybody can handle a striker as explosive as Hasselbaink.
Keown made some GREAT tackles on Owen last year.
Also, Sol is better on the left side and he plays right side when Tony is there.
Three weeks ago I wondered whether Thierry Henry might bottle it again.
Last year’s final scarred the Arsenal players and it must have scarred Henry more than the others. He might feel he is returning to the scene of an accident. He shouldn’t, but he might.
Clearly,Henry wants to make it up to the club and the fans.He missed sitters last year.He knows he blew it. If he blew it again and Arsenal lost he might never be the same player because he takes these things to heart.
The team misses Robert Pires a lot, but they have played remarkably well since he was injured. Henry misses Pires because those two pass to each other a lot and make runs for each other.
So, for Henry, each game without Pires is a hard game. He has done some good things lately but he has not scored in his last four games.
Last year he was upstaged by Michael Owen. This year he might be upstaged by Hasselbaink or Gudjohnsen.
So, for Thierry Henry, this is a MASSIVE game. Its bigger for him than it is for the other players. He does not want to let people down, or let the manager down.
Henry badly wants to produce a performance on Saturday. He badly wants to score.He will be nervous.
Overall, the advantage is with Arsenal. They were there last year and lost, undeservedly. They want to make up for that.
They are in form with 11 straight Premiership wins, an amazing record
They are very hungry and very determined and they are facing a Chelsea team that is schizophrenic, that blows hot and cold.
Arsenal want this one. They want it, I think, a lot more than Chelsea, for that reason. To set the record straight, to right a wrong.
For me, this situation is a bit like the semi-finals against Spurs at Wembley.
Having lost the first one to Gazza’s free-kick in 1991 there was no way on this earth that Arsenal were gonna lose the second one in 1993.
BUT REMEMBER THIS : THE PREMIERSHIP IS MORE IMPORTANT.
And the FA Cup Final is draining. Win or lose, it is a very draining game.
The wrong preparation for a visit to Old Trafford on Wednesday night. Even if you don’t pick up any new knocks.
In sum, a fascinating contest, but not one I can preview tactically, since we do not know who is playing. But Cudicini will make saves from Ljungberg. How many, how good, nobody knows.
But I’m empty-headed tonight. No ideas, no spark.If I have any further thoughts I will write them tomorrow.
If not, enjoy the event. It should be an entertaining battle with both sides trying to play football.
It’s a great day in the English way of life, as former Chelsea boss Dave Sexton once said.
My life is measured out in Cup Finals, but that’s another story….
2nd May 2002.