English FA Cup Final/Arsenal - 0 Manchester United - 0: At least no one can accuse Arsenal of being unable to win ugly any more. They were horrid and triumphant at the Millennium Stadium. Forget that this was the first goalless FA Cup final since 1912 and also the first to be decided on penalties; it was more revealing that it surely made history by containing an apology from the victorious manager.

"I wouldn't be happy with that every week, but it was not deliberate," said Arsene Wenger.

The stalemate was not wholly accidental either, with Arsenal's system taking some of the blame for the fact Roy Carroll did not have to make a single real save in open play. The goalkeeper was probably out of practice by the time the shoot-out started.

There is a sneaky glee about undeserved success. Late on Saturday night a smartly dressed lady asked the dishevelled Arsenal fan on the underground platform at King's Cross for the result. "We should have got beat 6-0 but we won," he said, with disbelief toppling into euphoria.

Memories have been edited by now and the loop running through those supporters' brains shows Jens Lehmann diving to his right to stop the one mediocre penalty of the series, from Paul Scholes, and Patrick Vieira completing Arsenal's flawless set by spanking home the winner.

For the sake of poignancy the Highbury highlights might also feature Ashley Cole's spot-kick. If his relationship with the club has entered the terminal phase then a crisp penalty was his last touch of the ball for Arsenal.

Exhausted by the long struggle for survival, the winners were in a reflective mood. Wenger raised the possibility that, with his work done, he might resign in a couple of years, once Arsenal are settled in their new ground.

The Millennium Stadium was no place to determine his future and he may well reconsider; it was the sort of rogue thought that swims into the mind after an occasion that churns the emotions as this one did.

The sequence of seven previous matches without a win over United had left its mark on Arsenal and, specifically, on their tactics board. They had lost 4-2 to Alex Ferguson's team at home in February and Wenger believed that the visitors' numerical superiority in midfield was responsible for their ascendancy.

In the FA Cup final he too had five men in that area. "It's not our game," said the manager. "We knew it was our last chance to win a trophy and I felt that it was important, without Thierry Henry, not to concede the first goal. That's why I went for a more cautious approach on this one day to get what we wanted at any price. But I'm not convinced that you always have to play like that."

Jose Antonio Reyes was meant to break on to the attack but rarely did so effectively and was sent off moments before the end for his second bookable offence.

The veteran Dennis Bergkamp, lacking both the speed to ruffle United and the presence of nearby team-mates with whom he could link, described his own contribution as "a sacrifice".

It should have been in vain. The afternoon teemed with excellent moves by United players who deserved to be hailed for punishing Arsenal for their conservatism. Despite that, Ferguson cannot simply forget this defeat since it had similarities with the all too frequent blank days that saw his side score only 58 times in the Premiership.

The formation, with Ruud van Nistelrooy as the lone centre forward, is still failing to load the goalmouth with potential scorers. United could have delayed consideration of that, however, if their finishing had been good enough.

The Dutchman's Achilles' tendon has healed since the mid-season lay-off but his sharpness has not been similarly restored. A rare flap by the reassuring Lehmann brought a United corner in the 85th minute and Scholes' delivery was met by first van Nistelrooy's head and then Freddie Ljungberg's, with the ball breaking off the Arsenal substitute to hit the crossbar. The centre forward was a little unlucky, but his next header, from Scholes' pinpoint cross after 104 minutes, was an off-target embarrassment.

With no punishing finisher around, there was more havoc than harm for Arsenal. Lauren, receiving scant aid from Cesc Fabregas, was barely able to avoid being overwhelmed by Cristiano Ronaldo's runs on the United left.

Ferguson's side were always primed, too, to hit early balls to the other flank, where Wayne Rooney attacked Cole with irrepressibility and flair.

In the 67th minute the ebullient teenager, having waited for Lehmann to come off his line in anticipation of a cross, arrowed a finish from the right wing which might have found the near-post gap if a grazing touch by a scrambling goalkeeper had not turned it on to the woodwork.

The German had also pushed a strong effort by Rooney over the bar in the 30th minute. Earlier still Rio Ferdinand had been offside by a couple of feet when he knocked home a drive by the same striker which had rebounded to him off Lehmann's foot.

"I can have sympathy for Manchester United because they played very well and it is difficult to lose games like that, when you have the chances," said Wenger. "They will come back next year and challenge for everything."

The graciousness came more easily in Arsenal's relief that it was not they who were left trophy-less this season. After the build-up to the final, Wenger has no difficulty in understanding how Ferguson feels. "Of course it is a huge psychological blow," he said. "Every day you read that you have not won anything and you cannot keep people happy unless you do that."

Though the substitute Robin van Persie was eventually to test Carroll from a free-kick, Arsenal, in Wenger's words, "had no resources to put them under pressure". Even so, he did have a stubborn defence, and Philippe Senderos, preferred to Sol Campbell, was so outstanding that he even countered Rooney occasionally.

At 20, the Swiss defender has collected his first trophy with the club and is joined in that breakthrough by other young players in Fabregas and van Persie. Wenger, who now has his fourth FA Cup success, is reinventing the team and he will value this result even if he could not relish the display.

ARSENAL: Lehmann, Lauren, Toure, Senderos, Cole, Fabregas (Van Persie 86), Vieira, Silva, Pires (Edu 105), Bergkamp (Ljungberg 65), Reyes. Subs Not Used: Almunia, Campbell. Sent Off: Reyes (120). Booked: Cole, Lauren, Reyes, Vieira.

MAN UTD: Carroll, Brown, Ferdinand, Silvestre, O'Shea (Fortune 77), Fletcher (Giggs 91), Keane, Scholes, Ronaldo, van Nistelrooy, Rooney. Subs Not Used: Howard, Gary Neville, Smith. Booked: Silvestre, Scholes.

Referee: R Styles (Hampshire).