Arsenal:
                 Almunia
   Hoyte Toure Senderos Traore (Clichy 63)
      Diaby (Cesc 79) Gilberto Denilson
Walcott (Rosicky 63)              Aliadiere
                 Adebayor

The visitors line-up took a late blow. Aaron Lennon had been ill during the previous night. They thought he would be ok but he had to pull out at the last minute, after the team list had gone to the ref. So not only did they not have him on the bench, they couldn't draft anyone else in to bring their bench back up to 5. Hossam Ghaly came in for Lennon and was probably their most effective attacking player. They started with Robbie Keane partnering Jermaine Defoe up front.

After 2 minutes Philippe Senderos got caught on the forehead by a stray (but unintentional) arm from Ghaly, and had to go off for treatment. He was ok though, just had to spend the rest of the match with a white bandage round his head. It didn't seem to affect him too much, as he had one of his dominant-in-the-air games (got caught out on the ground once or twice though). While he was off the pitch Adebayor put some good pressure on their defence, leading to Diaby winning the ball and breaking into the box, but the ball just ran away from him.

The game quickly developed into an end-to-end thriller. Jermaine Jenas played a ball forward for Malbranque but Manuel Almunia came out well to clear. We broke through Theo Walcott who put a decent cross in but Dawson got there before Adebayor and cleared.

On 10 minutes we had a real scare. Keane beat the offside trap, getting clear up the inside left. But he was a bit slow getting the ball out from his feet as he came into the box from the side, and Almunia pounced on the chance, storming out to block at Keane's feet and then jumping up to continue his run, following the ball to the touchline to clear it out for a throw. He even had the presence of mind to jump up again and off te pitch to grab the ball, preventing any possibility of Keane taking the throw quickly and taking advantage of the keeper's being so far out of position. Great keeping.

Zakora got muscled off the ball by Denilson as he charged towards our box, but Senderos wasted the chance to set Aliadiere off on the break. The ref had a word with Zakora presumably for a suspected dive, which looked rather unfair to me.

Then, just a couple of minutes after Keane's chance, Kolo Toure missed the best chance of the half. It started with a good break up the left with Armand Traore then Aliadiere winning a corner. The corner was scrambled clear eventually then moved forward again by the Arsenal. Denilson played a nice one-two with Toure and hit a great shot which Robinson saved but spilled. Toure had followed the shot in and got to the ball first, but in trying to take the ball round the keeper he kind of kicked it into the ground and it bounced too wide for him to get there in time to turn it goalwards. Probably should have just tried to lift it gently over the keeper.

Walcott had been struggling to get into the game. On 17 minutes he was put clear by a great Gilberto pass inside the full-back, but Walcott's cross went behind Adebayor. His corners weren't working any better, always seeming to go far too low to the first defender. They broke dangerously off one of these but Kolo got back to make a big tackle - still inside the Spurs half but with acres of scary space in front of the breaking white shirts.

Denilson got unlucky with a yellow card when Defore ran at him with a quick change of direction. A foul maybe but hard to see how the Brazilian could have gotten out of the way so why the booking?

We broke well on 22. After Gilberto did superbly to win the ball and retain it, then sent Diaby down the right. He fed Aliadiere in the box on that side who came up with a neat turn but his low shot went wide of the far post.

We were having a very good spell. Theo won a free kick deep on the right which he took and hit too low towards the near side of the box, an easy cut-out for the first defender... like his corners I'm sorry to say.

A minute later, Denilson took the next free kick from that wing and looped it into the box. The ball was cleared to Adebayor on the left corner of the box who tried an audacious chip over the crowded box, but it was just too strong to creep in under the far top corner. Shades of Liam Brady vs Pat Jennings.

Adebayor went sliding in from behind to try to win back a ball which Theo had lost being fouled himself (not given though). Ade looked lucky not to be booked for that one.

The left wing thing seemed to be suiting Aliadiere. He got back well to defend and deny Chimbonda. Tottenham were having a spell themselves. Malbranque put Defore through but he was offside (and cocked up the cross anyway). Then Hoyte gave the ball away on the right and Defoe got forward to the goalline but again his cross was poor, going out beyond the far top corner with Almunia watching it confidently.

Diaby showed his strength, holding players off as he brought the ball in from the left, finding space for a strong 25 yarder which was deflected over for a corner. This corner Theo managed to get off the ground, a bit too much though and it cleared the box and out for a goal kick.

Traore got beat by Ghaly and his cross found Malbranque sneaking into the box unmarked, but he put his header wide.

Adebayor showed great strength receiving the ball and muscling past his marker, but he sliced his shot wide. In injury time he had a better effort which flew just over the crossbar.

The second half started with more strong play from Diaby (showing in this match exactly why he's been compared to Patrick Vieira), he put Aliadiere through and he won a corner. A better one from Theo this time, an easy catch for Robinson but at least that meant it had got somewhere near the goalmouth.

Ghaly (looking their most dangerous player) got the better of Traore again and hit a dangerous low cross which Toure did well to stretch and cut out.

Theo went on a good run down the right and tried a chip to the far top corner. Decent effort this time just a tad strong.

On 51, Ghaly got past Traore again and went down hopefully in the box when the full back tried to get back at him. We came away with the ball, Senderos bringing it out of defence, but Ghaly got the red mist and hacked him down. Diaby came over a bit unnecessarily (I think I mentioned he was playing like Vieira!) and went briefly head-to-head with Ghaly as a crowd gathered. Got himself booked too (along with Ghaly).

Toure intercepted another cross, from Keane this time. Up the other end, Theo did better, running up the wing but further infield than usual (that's the ticket!). He ended up losing the ball but perhaps it was Denilson's fault: rather than giving Theo a passing option the Brazilian ran along the same line and got in his way. Soon after, Theo put a decent cross over from the right, Adebayor rose well in the box and tried to direct his header back across goal inside the right post, but it went beyond.

Theo did a 1-2 with Denilson but put a bad cross in. Tottenham broke and we needed a great tackle from Kolo to stop it.

Adebayor came over to the right a couple of times to help Theo, which looked just what he needed. We won a corner, it was cleared, Almunia and was forced way out of his box to clear as the visitors broke but once again the keeper got it just right.

With just under half an hour of normal time to go, Wenger gave up on Walcott and on came Tomas Rosicky. This was done while Traore was receiving treatment after pulling off a great tackle on Keane. At first it looked like cramp but obviously it was more than that, he ended up being stretchered off and on came Gael Clichy. As good as the youngsters had been overall, these 2 changes probably made all the difference. Arsenal's second string may be better than most first strings, but they're still some way off being as good as Arsenal's. Rosicky's use of the ball is infinitely better than Theo's, and while Traore had done ok he'd been beaten a few times. And the attacking threat of Clichy helped keep them pegged back down the other wing.

Almost immediately, in fact, Clichy went on a good run, dribbling in from the wing and through a few defenders. He lost it on the edge of the box but the ball popped back for Denilson who hit a low shot wide.

Adebayor won a foul off of Gardner who won himself a talking-to from the ref. Looked like our man had been leaning into him, to me. Hey ho. Denilson went for goal with the free kick but Dawson managed to get to it and head it over for a corner.

Adebayor did brilliantly on an apparent lost cause, running for a ball heading out for a corner. He kept it in and set up Denilson who brought the ball infield and tried to catch Robinson out at the near post, but hit the side netting.

Rosicky started to dominate whenever he got near the ball, bursting past players when he got it, using the ball cleverly and with great attacking purpose. Zakora got booked bringing him down as he charged towards the box. This time Tommy took the free kick and again it was headed over the bar by Dawson (looking a very handy defender indeed). 15 minutes to go and Aliadiere was bundled over in the D, but he'd lost control of the ball already.

Then at last with 12 minutes to go we got the breakthrough we deserved. Unsurprisingly it involved Rosicky heavily. He started it with a one two with Denilson outside the box to right of centre. He hit the retunr ball first time, a screamer of a shot which would have given Robinson no chance if it hadn't been straight at him. Still, he could only stick his hands up and let the ball bounce off them. It rebounded to outside the box and to a red shirt (not sure who). Tottenham had no time to regroup, while Rosicky was totally alert to the possibilities. He moved into space on the edge of the box, took the return ball, and saw Adebayor lurking to his left. The Czech slipped the ball into the striker's path and as Robinson came over to narrow the angle Adebayor passed the ball coolly past him and inside the far post.

As seems to be the norm these days, Adebayor went straight to the touchline to celebrate with a bit of a boogie and a hug with Thierry Henry. So great to see they've got such a good thing going - such a contrast with whatever relationship the club captain had with Jose Antonio Reyes...

Straight away, Cesc Fabregas came on for Diaby (who, it turns out, had twisted a leg possibly quite badly).

We had a dangerous attack pulled back wrongly for offside. Adebayor had been in an offside position when the ball was played forward for him, but a defender had cut the ball out with a header which found Aliadiere and gave us good attacking possibilities. I thought that these days they weren't supposed to give the offside if the ball didn't get through...?

6 minutes to go. They got the ball into our box and it was cleared, looping away past the right corner of the box. Denilson went for it and was penalised - it looked very harsh to me as he was just going for the ball and being strong. Jenas took the free-kick, looping it towards goal. There had been a similar one earlier in the half which had bounced through safely but ominously to Almunia. This time, Mido (on as a sub for Malbranque a few minutes earlier) snuck in front of Kolo and glanced a header past the keeper for 1-1. Damn.

We nearly got in a mess from our own kick-off (how can you not be ready for your own kick-off?). It was a nervy end-to-end end to full time. Aliadiere broke and squared for Adebayor who scuffed his shot beyond the far post. They broke and there was a worrying scramble or two in our box. We were rushing our balls out of defence. Mido (thank god he wasn't on the pitch earlier!) made a bit of a fool of Senderos just outside the D, nicking the ball through the defender's legs to make space for a shot, but he dragged his shot wide of Almunia's right hand post (and the keeper looked beaten).

In injury time we broke well through Cesc, Rosicky, and Adebayor, and then to Denilson who hit another excellent shot which Robinson palmed over the bar. Then Toure got into space on the left of the box and forced a good point blank save from the outrushing Robinson. The ball looped up beyond the far post where Gilberto rose to head it back towards Kolo. Robinson was out of position but Dawson was there at the post to head clear and deny the defender a second chance.

Extra time. Semi-final against Tottenham. End-to-end. This was what it's all about. The noise was awesome.

Extra time started with another unlucky free kick given away by Denilson. This one came looping towards the far post where Chimbonda got a free header which went past the post. But from that point on Arsenal took control again. And as with the first 2 substitutions, Cesc coming on for Diaby showed what a difference the finished article can make. Mind you, Cesc's a freak, and his understanding with Gilberto is freakish too when they're combining like this: total domination of the middle of the pitch. I'm not sure that Paddy and Petit were ever this good. Cesc could do with a few more goals though. He seemed to think so too, hitting a 30 yarder but straight at Robinson. Denilson did the same.

Right at the end of the first period of extra time, Denilson hit a cross into the box from our right. Not a great cross, and going straight to Spurs' new signing Rocardo Rocha (a second half sub). The ball was coming to him at ankle height but for some reason he decided to get down on all fours and head it out. Ooops. The ball just popped forward a few yards to the space which Aliadiere was in on the right of their box. He had back to goal as he got to the ball but turned and shot in one motion, sending the ball low inside the far post.

The whistle went straight away I think, we were still lost in celebration. As the players regrouped for the start of the last 15 minutes the truth settled on us... Spurs still only needed one more goal, to take it to penalties.

Keane was struggling though, and while Mido was looking a threat Ghaly and Malbranque - their best attacking players - had gone off in the double substitution which had brought Mido and Huddlestone on after 80 minutes. We maintained control.

Gilberto had a go with a long range shot which ended up 15 yards wide. Then with 7 minutes to go a long ball into their box was nodded on by Adebayor, and straight to Rosicky's feet. He showed great composure, moving the ball across the box to the right, waiting for the moment that the goal opened up in front of him. The keeper and defender did well to keep in front of him, but eventually Tomas saw goal and pulled the trigger. It hit the inside of the right post and flew across the face of goal, hitting Chimbonda a foot in front of the line and just creeping over the line before he could hook it out of the goal. Fair play to the linesman, who spotted that the ball had gone in. Fair play to Rosicky for his cool finish, but it goes down as an own goal.

Up the other end, Mido was definitely the danger. He hit a snap shot past Almunia's left hand post with the keeper beat again. Chimbonda had a header deflected behind for a corner. Up the other end Aliadiere got shoved in the back going for the ball in the D, nothing was given but the main thing was that he got back up again - he's the last player you'd wish another injury on. Speaking of which... well, you've probably heard about Ashley Cole by now.

We started to celebrate but it still felt tense. It looked so unlikely but imagine they scored now... needing just one more flukey moment then to win the game outright at the death. Into the last minute though, it all looked over. We broke up the right through Adebayor and Cesc, then finding Aliadiere who shot beyond the far post. To be fair, they didn't give up. In injury time Defoe had a great effort deflected over. From the corner Almunia came out of his goal to make a great catch under pressure. The game ended with Rosicky, Adebayor, and Cesc taking the piss a bit with some keep-ball up the lefty wing. A fitting end, these three if anyone had been the difference between the teams.

But there will rightly be much talk about Denilson and Diaby. Walcott needs time and has much left to learn, and some strength to build up, but these two are so close to being the finished article that they looked like they could walk into most Premiership teams. One word of caution on this, though: they were playing in a 5 man midfield with Gilberto, coming back from a 3 game rest looking as fresh as anything and as good as ever, which gave these youngsters the freedom to play. Traore had another decent game, possibly being found out a little more than in previous ties, possibly just looking shaky in contrast to the awesome Clichy after the enforced substitution.

Arsenal play Chelsea in the final at the Cardiff Millennium stadium on Sunday February 25th. It's going to be fascinating. Wenger promises, again, to play some of the second string. If fit, I think we can expect to see Diaby, Denilson, Hoyte, and possibly both Baptista and Aliadiere (personally I'd like to see Adebayor in front of an attacking 5 man midfield like in this one).