Ljungberg seals Arsenal's FA Cup triumph

Superb second half goals from Ray Parlour and Freddie Ljungberg earned Arsenal a 2-0 victory over Chelsea on Saturday in the first all-London final for 20 years.

Arsenal's eighth FA Cup triumph put them on course for their second league and Cup double in five years. They travel to Old Trafford on Wednesday, needing only a point against champions Manchester United to win the title.

After 70 minutes of scrappy football Parlour sent the red and white end of the Millennium stadium into ecstasy when he curled a right foot shot past Carlo Cudicini from 20 metres.

Ljungberg, who had opened the scoring in last season's 2-1 final defeat by Liverpool, put the result beyond doubt after a run in the 79th minute which started in the Arsenal half, and a curling shot into the top corner.

"It's important that we won after last year and this is enormous," said the Swedish midfielder. "We played for each other and we just love to play football."

"I never felt safe as they are a tough team and you don't want to be remembered for losing two cup finals in a row."

The Swede has scored seven goals in the last seven Arsenal games and is the first player to score in successive Cup finals since Bobby Smith for Tottenham 40 years ago.

LIFTS TROPHY

Captain Tony Adams, who is expected to retire at the end of the season after 19 years at Highbury, lifted the trophy for the third time and said: "There's nothing like winning.

"It was very painful last year and it was a lot better today and they were fabulous goals to win an FA Cup final."

For long stretches, Chelsea played the better football, but were let down by the failure of strike pair Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who was clearly not fully fit and was substituted in the second half, and Eidur Gudjohnsen to penetrate an Arsenal back four superbly marshalled by Adams.

They also had the unlucky north dressing room from which no team have emerged victors at this stadium in 10 soccer finals.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believed luck had played a part in his side's win. "We were really unlucky last year but this year we were a bit lucky and scored at the right moment."

"It's a big game again," he said, looking forward to the league game against United." "We are very, very happy today and now we can look forward to Wednesday.

Chelsea are the 10th team in 10 soccer finals to use the South dressing room at the Millennium Stadium and lose -- a run covering every major final held at Cardiff since the stadium took over from Wembley when the London ground was closed for redevelopment in 2000.

Arsenal chose the North changing room after winning the toss of a coin two weeks ago.

BERGKAMP EFFORT

A tense, scrappy and at times ill-tempered first half produced little flowing football and even fewer scoring chances.

Dennis Bergkamp failed to direct a header on target when clear after 15 minutes while Chelsea replied with two menacing long-range efforts from Graeme Le Saux and Frank Lampard.

England number one David Seaman, preferred to FA Cup regular Richard Wright, had little else to trouble him apart from a scuffed shot by Gudjohnsen after Lauren had carelessly lost possession for Arsenal.

Lauren nearly made up for the blunder in the 37th minute when presented with the best chance of the half, a cross from Sylvain Wiltord which the Cameroon defender headed over Cudicini's crossbar.

For two of the most entertaining sides in English football this season it was pretty poor fare, while bookings for Le Saux and Patrick Vieira for rash challenges underlined the aggression which permeated the game.

Chelsea came out the sharper in the second half, helped by Arsenal's sloppy defending and sprayed passes in a midfield which was increasingly dominated by Emmanuel Petit and Lampard.

Seaman tipped over a searing effort from Gudjohnsen, Chelsea's best effort of the game, while Le Saux was teed up for a clear shot on goal from the edge of the area but he blasted it over the top.

A goal finally came - around the time that Arsenal broke the deadlock last year against Liverpool - and the surprise was that it came at the Chelsea end.

Midfielder Parlour led an Arsenal breakaway deep into Chelsea territory and, with little other alternative, hit a curling shot which Cudicini touched but could not prevent entering the top right hand corner of the Chelsea net.

Ljungberg then made no mistake as he burst through the Chelsea defensive cordon, shrugging off a challenge from Chelsea substitute John Terry to steer his shot past Cudicini for his 17th goal of the season.

"It's really hard to take because we seemed to be in control of the game at that stage," said Chelsea midfielder Graeme Le Saux.

"The second goal was a real kick in the teeth for us."

Arsenal are now level with Tottenham Hotspur on eight FA Cup wins, two behind Manchester United.

Hasselbaink agreed that the gamble to play him, when he was not fully recovered from a calf strain, had failed.

"It was a high risk to play, I know that at some stage I was going to be troubled."