- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday September 6 2000 22.04 BST
Chelsea Cudicini, Panucci, Babayaro, Leboeuf, Desailly, Poyet, Hasselbaink, Wise, Le Saux, Di Matteo, Zola. Subs: Hitchcock, Melchiot, Flo, Morris, Gudjohnsen.
Arsenal Seaman, Dixon, Keown, Pires, Lauren, Henry, Parlour, Silvinho, Grimandi, Luzhny, Kanu. Subs: Ljungberg, Bergkamp, Wiltord, Lukic, Vernazza.
Referee M Riley
1 Chelsea kick off, pass it about and win an early free kick. Nothing nasty. Yet.
3 Leboeuf miskicks and Henry has a pop from 40 yards. Worth a go but Cudicini is down quickly to his right to smother the weak shot.
5 Chelsea put their first half-decent move together down the right. Then Grimandi runs full pelt into Wise, knocking him over. Come on, boys, play nicely.
6 Panucci sends a ball down the right-hand channel into the path of the onrushing Di Matteo. Seaman senses the danger and comes out to block the ball with his legs on the edge of the area.
8 Pires and Henry roll smoothly down the left flank and win a corner. Kanu, jumping majestically, beats Cudicini to the resulting set piece, but he fails to connect and the first chance of the match is wasted.
9 Almost immediately, Parlour picks up the ball and bustles to the edge of the area. He pulls back the trigger and shoots and oh dear.
11 Some nice Chelsea interplay on the edge of the Arsenal box. Poyet shoots harmlessly wide.
14 Arsenal win another corner. Meanwhile, Keown and Le Saux point and rant at each other like a couple of blubbing schoolkids. When the kick is finally taken, Grimandi wastes the latest easy free header by glancing the ball wide. Chelsea better watch themselves.
16 This bit was good. Wise, out on the right, curls a lovely cross in towards Hasselbaink, who has peeled away from a static Keown. The Dutch striker places his header to Seaman's left and looks on in disbelief as it's fingertipped away. Great football all round - apart from Keown's contribution, obviously.
21 We're in a period where potentially nice moves keep breaking down because players keep making sloppy loose passes. Great.
24 The first booking - Silvinho is diddled by Panucci near the corner flag and trips him up. Zola takes the resulting free kick and plants the ball on the head of Desailly who, five yards out in the centre of the goalmouth, can only score. Sadly for Chelsea, Leboeuf decides to steal the glory for himself, pushes in first and slaps it wide with his big greedy head.
28 Arsenal are struggling to get the ball at the moment. Luckily, Chelsea aren't doing too much with it.
30 GOAL Chelsea 1 - 0 Arsenal What do you know? Hasselbaink takes the ball off Luzhny, who has fallen over for no reason twenty yards out. There's still a bit to do, but he slides the ball to his right, takes a couple of steps and smashes the ball past Seaman, who by rights should have had a chance to save it from that range but this time had none.
36 Lauren strokes a 40-yard ball down the right to the feet of Henry, who goes at Desailly. He twists and turns the big defender, making space to drag a shot across the face of goal. Not perfect, but more promising for the Arse.
39 Le Saux upends Lauren, who is beginning to cause Chelsea bother. From the free kick, Arsenal knock it about until they create an opening. Parlour curls in a lovely ball from the right to Henry, who is waiting by the penalty spot. The striker powers in a header but it's straight at Cudicini.
44 Poyet smashes a ball towards Hasselbaink, who is hanging around on the right wing. Soon enough, the ball is despatched into the Arsenal box - luckily Keown is awake this time, and he gets his head in the way to clear the danger.
Half-time Chelsea 1 - 0 Arsenal
46 Arsenal start the ball rolling again
47 and almost immediately win a corner. Pires whips the ball in and - for the third time in the match so far - an Arsenal player has an easy header from a corner. Grimandi, six yards out, puts it high and wide.
49 Lauren skins Babayaro on the Chelsea right and plays a ball along the floor to the feet of Kanu, who, with his back to goal, spins round Desailly with one touch. He unluckily crashes his superb shot onto the underside of the crossbar. The ball pops out to the feet of Parlour, who displays hitherto unknown circus skills by shinning the ball away from the goalface.
53 Le Saux is booked for pressing his studs into the shin of his old mate Dixon - it could (and possibly should) have been a red.
56 Parlour nearly has Le Saux's legs off with a pretty little lunge. Coincidence?
57 GOAL Chelsea 2 - 0 Arsenal Leboeuf humps a free kick towards the Arsenal box. Poyet chests it down into the path of Zola, who doesn't seem to have enough time to get a shot in. But he does, flicking his boot early at the dropping ball before the onrushing Keown can make a challenge. The ball sails past Seaman and settles perfectly in the left-hand corner of the Arsenal net. Now can Kanu do it again?
60 A little skirmish between Grimandi and Panucci is quickly calmed down by the referee and, strangely, Keown.
65 Chelsea well in charge. A couple of corners here, a crisp passing move there. Arsenal are once again finding it difficult to put their foot on the ball.
67 Keown gifts the ball to Hasselbaink, and it's one on one. But the England defender recovers well to push the Chelsea man wide and blocks his shot.
69 Zola rolls in a cross from the right between Seaman and his defenders. It's a brilliantly inviting ball, but Poyet can't quite stretch out his leg to guide it in. 70 Here's an attacking substitution for you: Parlour and Dixon go off for Arsenal, while Bergkamp and - for his debut - Wiltord come on. You can't say it's not a brave move.
71 Now it's Gianluca Vialli's turn to play with the electronic numbers board. Poyet goes off and Melchiot comes on.
76 GOAL Chelsea 2 - 1 Arsenal Silvinho slips the ball past the Chelsea back four, who are standing square and still. Henry is suddenly in space down the left and passes the ball past Cudicini and into the right-hand side of the Chelsea net. Surely not?!?
77 Before the restart, some changes. Flo for Zola, Ljungberg for Pires - you know who they play for. Chelsea immediately look shaky, and, let's face it, it's no wonder.
79 Bad boy Le Saux goes off early but it's not a red card. He's replaced by Morris.
82 Flo runs at Keown, Hasselabink twists and turns, Di Matteo takes a wild pop. No end product, but all this is eating up the clock.
85 Hasselbaink picks up the ball wide on the left, turns and curls an unstoppable shot around Seaman. But the right-hand post gets in the way and it pings away harmlessly. 86 GOAL Chelsea 2 - 2 Arsenal Arsenal immediately go down the other end to sicken their opponents. Do you remember Nigel Winterburn's long-range goal here a couple of years ago? Well, this one is almost a carbon copy. Except it's better. And more dramatic. Silvinho runs onto a loose ball which is harmlessly bouncing on the edge of the Chelsea area and smashes it into the top left corner. Jaw-dropping. Cudicini had no chance.
90 Four minutes of injury time coming up. Chelsea pin Arsenal back. Bergkamp wins the ball with his hand and picks out Henry, who is clear 20 yards out. Justice is done when the Arsenal striker sidefoots the ball into the crowd. A few more passes and the final whistle blows.
Full time Chelsea 2 - 2 Arsenal
