However, Arsenal may be weakened by the absence of Dennis Bergkamp, whose hamstring injury broke down in training yesterday, while Newcastle still have the potential to both excite and succeed if Kenny Dalglish slips the leash.He may have to if he wants to redeem a season of soured promise and bitter division with victory. The previous one, between Liverpool and Manchester United, a snorathon.
There are reservations. Will this be the year the FA Cup final finally lives up to the hype?
Not since 1991, when Tottenham beat Nottingham Forest in the final of Gazza’s wounded knee, has the oldest trophy of them all had a memorable finale Last year’s contest was a Chelsea walkover. Form suggests Arsenal should win the tie at a stroll, while Newcastle’s approach no longer stirs the soul. Wright scored two for Crystal Palace in 1990, one for Arsenal in 1993 and another in the 1993 replay.Newcastle’s John Barnes will become only the third player in history to play for three different clubs in the Cup final if he appears today. He also played for Watford in the 1984 final and for Liverpool in 1988 and 1996.. IT HAS all the right ingredients.
The classic north-south contest, contrasting managers, World Cup hopefuls galore, two clubs gilded with Cup pedigree – one aiming to make history, the other seeking redemption – plus a whiff of controversy and touch of romance. He will make Cup final history if he plays today by becoming the first player this century to appear in five Cup Finals.Newcastle’s Ian Rush and Arsenal’s Ian Wright are two of only three players to have scored in three FA Cup final matches Rush scored for Liverpool in 1986, 1989 and 1992. The only others to have met in three finals are Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion who met in 1887, 1892 and 1895.Arsenal will be hoping it is third time lucky against Newcastle, who won the 1932 final 2-1 and the 1952 final 1-0.Newcastle’s Ian Rush has scored five goals in the FA Cup final – an all-time record. His teams produced the most exciting football in the Premier League but their quest for honours came to nought.
His title dream was thwarted repeatedly by Manchester United, most notably in 1995-96 when Newcastle led the table by 12 points in January, only to finish second. Keegan’s verbal attack on Alex Ferguson (left) gave the first hint of the mental frailty that was to culminate in his resignation in January last year, leaving behind a pounds 40m transfer deficit when he handed the reins to Kenny Dalglish.Jon Culley. Simon Turnbull reports
STUART PEARCE has reason to recall the last time the elusive cup of a major trophy was dashed from the thirsting lips of the Toon Army. Three days after Kevin Keegan’s cavaliers completed their Devon Loch in the Premiership stakes two years ago, 2,000 Newcastle fans packed into the Bridgford Stand at the City Ground for Pearce’s testimonial match.
“Now you’re gonna believe us,” they sang, “we nearly won the league.” At the final whistle, a Keegan penalty having failed to save Newcastle from a defeat less painful than their championship surrender to Manchester United, Pearce acknowledged the Geordie chants of “Psycho” with more than his familiar clenched-fist salute.He removed his jersey and threw it to the Tyneside throng. It was ever thus with Pearce, the one player guaranteed to give his all, even the shirt off his back. This afternoon at Wembley that shirt will be black and white.”It’s strange how things work out,” Pearce mused “I’ll never forget what Kevin Keegan did for me. Even when things went badly for Newcastle he honoured his promise to bring his team down to Nottingham.
I’ll always remember that.”I’ll always remember the Geordies who came down too. I was very grateful to them at the time and I’m grateful I’ve had the chance to repay them by giving my best in a black and white shirt.”That best has paid back the Toon Army with an opportunity to end the long wait for firstclass silverware at St James’ Park. As the only ever- present in Newcastle’s FA Cup run to Wembley, Pearce has done more than anyone else to put his club within 90 minutes of their first major prize (with due deference to the Texaco and Anglo-Italian cups) since the Fairs Cup in 1969.The cavalier days have turned from black and white to sepia at Newcastle this season but Pearce has been a swashbuckling success for Kenny Dalglish’s Roundheads. At left-back and at centre-half, he helped to restrict the rearguard damage done to the downwardly-mobile Magpies in the Premiership campaign, which ended last Sunday with the runners-up of 12 months ago four points off a relegation place.Pearce and his defensive colleagues conceded 44 Premiership goals, an increase of just four from last season, when Newcastle qualified for the Champions’ League. Their problem has not been at the back but at the front, where productivity has dropped by more than half – from 73 league goals last term to 35 this.Newcastle’s season will probably be remembered for scoring of a rather different kind – the prolific spree credited to their former chairman and, er, vice-chairman – unless, that is, Pearce and the rest of the boys in black and white can snuff out the Arsenal this afternoon.