English FA Cup final/Arsenal v Chelsea/Cardiff, 3.0 (BBC1)Millennium way: Paths to final. This afternoon a group of wealthy foreigners, down from London with half-a-dozen rich Englishmen, will visit the shrine of Welsh rugby to play a game of association football. Thus does the city of Cardiff continue to pay belated penance for once taking the FA Cup out of England.
Yet if today's final approaches the melodrama of last year the punishment will remain bearable. And the ingredients for a memorable match are again in place.
Will it be Arsenal or Chelsea? Certainly the long tradition of finalists beaten in one season returning to win the FA Cup a year later favours Arsenal. Royal Engineers began the habit in 1875, Manchester United were the 15th club to do so in 1996, and Arsenal have already done so, in 1979.
Victory for Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium today would set them up for their third league and FA Cup double and their second under Arsene Wenger. On Wednesday they go to Old Trafford needing to avoid defeat to end Manchester United's present three-year reign as champions. For once the double stands to be completed in reverse, that is to say cup before league.
Yet Chelsea, those arch non-conformists, could well confound such cosy hypotheses. On their day they can beat anyone but on other days they are capable of beating only themselves. Nevertheless they have won the FA Cup twice in the past five seasons and when it comes to individual quality Claudio Ranieri's side are Arsenal's equals in several positions and their superiors in one or two more.
In Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen, moreover, Chelsea have had a scoring combination unmatched anywhere else in the Premiership this season. Not only are the Dutchman and Icelander adept at finding the net, they also find each other with telepathic understanding.
On form Hasselbaink, calf strain permitting, and Gudjohnsen could undo Arsenal's defence as comprehensively as Michael Owen did for Liverpool in last season's final, when his two late goals punished the earlier profligacy of Wenger's attack in general and that of Thierry Henry in particular.
Another area in which Chelsea could establish an advantage is on the wings, where defensively Arsenal can be vulnerable. The speed and aggression of Jesper Gronkjaer on the right and the combination of Graeme le Saux and Boudewijn Zenden on the left ought to give the Arsenal full backs, Lauren and Ashley Cole, a testing afternoon.
For all this to happen for Chelsea, however, Ranieri's players will have to raise the tempo and intensity of their game to match the ferocious pace Arsenal are likely to set.
Most matches are won by teams who gain and keep control of the midfield and, unless Emmanuel Petit and Frank Lampard can at least maintain parity with Patrick Vieira and Edu, Chelsea's strikers will pine for support while their central defenders will come under mounting pressure.
Petit and Vieira, once such an awesome midfield pair at Highbury, should be able to read each other like a book. But Lampard is not quite in the class of Edu and this may be a telling factor, the Brazilian having struck impressive form for Arsenal once he secured a regular team place.
Defensively the sides are about on a par. The experience of Tony Adams or Martin Keown for Arsenal should match the massive authority of Marcel Desailly while Chelsea's John Terry may even have the edge on Sol Campbell for defensive nous.
In goal most managers would rely more on Arsenal's David Seaman than Chelsea's Carlo Cudicini although the latter is in the habit of putting big saves together in the course of a single game.
When it comes to a likely match-winner Arsenal surely have the ace. Fredrik Ljungberg's hairstyle could be described as Davy Crockett in pink but as a practised snapper-up of goals he is an outstanding frontiersman nonetheless.
So well has Ljungberg compensated Wenger for the loss of Robert Pires, the Football Writers' Footballer of the Year, that Arsenal's final push for the double has actually gathered momentum since he took over the Frenchman's duties on the left.
Not that Ljungberg would have enjoyed such success without Dennis Bergkamp, whose orchestration of the attack and smooth interchanges of position with the Swede and Henry, combined with outstanding goals, have brought a new lustre to Arsenal.
Recent league encounters between the sides have been close, passionate affairs though with little love interest, given the number of yellow and red cards that have accrued. Not much space or time will be allowed the man on the ball this afternoon and it will be surprising if more than one goal separates the teams whatever the outcome.
This is only the fifth all-London FA Cup final and the last, 20 years ago when Tottenham beat Queen's Park Rangers in a replay through a penalty from Glenn Hoddle, was unmemorable. The rest of the nation tends to sniff at these exclusively London gatherings as if a final without Manchester, Merseyside or Newcastle is not quite the real article.
Yet the talents on show now will have to work hard to make it a bad game of football and the personal feeling is that Ljungberg, who gave Arsenal their ill-fated lead against Liverpool last time, will score his way to a winner's medal today.
At least Arsenal's latest opponents are unlikely to enjoy the privilege of fielding two goalkeepers, the unpunished hands of Stephane Henchoz contributing almost as much to their downfall a year ago as Owen's inspired feet.
Arsenal
Round 3: bt Watford (a) 4-2 Henry, Ljungberg, Kanu, Bergkamp.
Round 4: bt Liverpool (h) 1-0 Bergkamp.
Round 5: bt Gillingham (h) 5-2 Wiltord (2), Kanu, Adams, Parlour.
Quarter-final: drew Newcastle (a) 1-1 Edu.
Replay: bt Newcastle (h) 3-0 Pires, Bergkamp, Campbell.
Semi-final: bt Middlesbrough 1-0 Festa.
Chelsea
Round 3: drew Norwich (a) 0-0
Replay: bt Norwich (h) 4-0 Stanic, Lampard, Zola, Forssell.
Round 4: drew West Ham (h) 1-1 Hasselbaink.
Replay: bt West Ham (a) 3-2 Hasselbaink, Forssell, Terry.
Round 5: bt Preston (h) 3-1 Gudjohnsen, Hasselbaink, Forssell.
Quarter-final: bt Tottenham (a) 4-0 Gallas, Gudjohnsen (2), Le Saux.
Semi-final: bt Fulham 1-0 Terry.
