FA Cup Final: Wenger in seventh heaven as Ramsey rescues Arsenal

ARSENE WENGER became the greatest FA Cup manager of all-time when his Arsenal team denied Antonio Conte the Double in his first campaign as Chelsea boss.

It’s was the Frenchman’s seventh victory in the competition and his third in four years.

It moves him ahead of Scot George Ramsay, who won the Cup six times with Aston Villa between 1887 and 1920.

Wenger, who complained before the game about a “disgraceful lack of respect” over his achievements, has never been under fire as intensely as he has this season.

He is expected to sign a new Gunners contract in the coming days, and putting another trophy in the cabinet will help to appease his legion of critics.

Arsenal had led from the fourth minute when referee Anthony Taylor allowed a hugely controversial Alexis Sanchez goal to stand.

Chelsea, who in the first half were unrecognisable as the team that won the Premier League so convincingly, had Victor Moses sent off 22 minutes from the end for a second yellow card when he dived trying to win a penalty.

Despite being a man down, Diego Costa pulled them level in the 76th minute but, three minutes later, Aaron Ramsey headed the winner.

Like their manager, the club also became record-breakers, winning the trophy for the 13th time in their 20th final and in each of the last six final appearances.

Arsenal’s victory denied Conte not only the League and Cup Double in his first season in England, but it also maintained his unwanted record of never having won a knock-out competition as a coach.

Arsenal probably got a lucky break with the Sanchez goal, which might have been disallowed on two counts.

First, the Chilean seemed to charge down N’Golo Kante’s clearance with his arms, then Ramsey was in a clear offside position and the linesman flagged.

The Welshman stopped, so did the whole of Chelsea’s defence when they saw the flag, but Sanchez didn’t and he beat Thibaut Courtois. Taylor consulted his assistant and eventually gave the goal.

Once again it hinged on the thorny issue of whether the ref judges the offside player to be active and Taylor found in Arsenal’s favour.

The Gunners could have gone 2-0 up on the quarter-hour when Gary Cahill back-heeled brilliantly off the line when Mesut Ozil’s clever angled chip beat Courtois.

A few minutes later Danny Welbeck then hit a post with a header and Ramsey hit it again as he tried to squeeze the rebound home.

Chelsea may have been unfortunate with the goal, but they were fortunate not to be three behind.

The Champions’ first real chance came after 28 minutes when Costa got the better of Rob Holding and fired a shot straight into the face of David Ospina.

But then Cahill had to make another goal-line clearance from Welbeck as Arsenal hit on the counter-attack and Courtois pushed a Granit Xhaka shot round a post.

It was perhaps Chelsea’s worst 45 minutes since they conceded three first-half goals at the Emirates last September when Conte switched to three at the back. It was a more familiar Chelsea after the break. In the opening minutes, Kante’s shot flew straight at Ospina, Per Mertesacker blocked from Costa and Ospina saved well from Moses.

The unusually quiet Eden Hazard curled one wide before Conte brought on Cesc Fabregas.

Hector Bellerin forced Courtois into another save, but then in the 68th minute another big call for ref Taylor as Moses went down in the box under a challenge from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Taylor judged it to be a dive – and he was right – and because the wing-back had been yellow-carded for a foul on Welbeck just 11 minutes earlier, the card was red.

That really should have been that, but the 10 men managed to get back on terms in the 76th minute when Costa chested down a cross from sub Willian and fired past Ospina.

But Chelsea’s joy lasted just two minutes as Ramsey headed in a cross from their sub Oliver Giroud, who had just come on.

It wasn’t quite over because Costa broke through five minutes from time and Ospina, preferred to Petr Cech, saved superbly and Ozil struck the woodwork when his shot came off a post.