Frederik Ljungberg celebrates netting Arsenal's second (ShaunBotterill/Allsport)

Ljungberg struck nine minutes after Ray Parlour had cracked the Chelsea resistance with an equally spellbinding finish and the first half of the Gunners' Double mission was complete.

Now they can forget the Michael Owen Final of 12 months ago.

This time the Gunners left absolutely nothing to chance. The venerable old trophy would not be snatched out of their grasp for the second successive season.

Arsenal, of course, have festered all season over the manner in which they allowed Liverpool to pull off a late, double mugging in the same Millennium Stadium 12 months ago.

But when Ljungberg laid this often malevolent and always fractious all-London spat to rest, not even someone with the opportunistic skills of an Owen could have resisted the inevitable.

Perhaps it had been the departure of Chelsea's own master marksman Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who had been in doubt for this game with a calf injury, that prompted Arsenal to seize the moment.

The Holland striker had trudged off shortly before Parlour's venomous strike in the 70th minute.

Hasselbaink's partner in goals Eidur Gudjohnsen toiled in vain for much of the afternoon and substitute Gianfranco Zola could do little to shake the resolve of an Arsenal defence in which Tony Adams and Sol Campbell reigned supreme. In truth, Arsene Wenger's team finished at a canter.

Certainly this showpiece occasion failed to produce the sort of supreme Arsenal performance we have become used to this season. Indeed Chelsea, for all their renowned vagaries and inconsistencies, matched them mentally most of the way.

Emmanuel Petit, an integral component in the Highbury armoury which carried off the Premiership and FA Cup Double four years ago, performed stoically alongside Frank Lampard in a rough and tumble mid-field department to nullify the renowned energy and effectiveness of Patrick Vieira.

But as is customary in such high-profile drama, those who finish best finish first.

Emphatically that was Arsenal. Indeed, homegrown Parlour, every bit as distinguished as the expensive collection of foreign colleagues around him, delivered a goal to grace the greatest of occasions.

Sylvain Wiltord teased the ball towards him as Arsenal probed Chelsea's right flank. With total deliberation, Parlour sized the distance and direction before delivering a superbly-placed shot that the groping hands of Carlo Cudicini could not prevent from reaching the top corner.

Parlour might even have converted a much more run-of-the-mill second goal for himself in the 78th minute after a Thierry Henry shot had come back to him off the Chelsea goalkeeper. Unfortunately, he was unable to apply the required purchase to his effort and the ball flew harmlessly wide.

No matter. Along came Freddie. This was, somewhat ominously of course, the same Ljungberg who will surely offer a formidable World Cup threat to England when playing for his native Sweden in Japan.

He has emerged as a consistent match-winning hero during the past few weeks when filling in for the much more celebrated Robert Pires, whose season was abruptly terminated by a cruel knee injury.

Half-a-dozen goals in Ljungberg's last five games have pushed Arsenal to the very brink of Premiership success. And here, his 17th contribution of a glittering campaign sealed another prestigious triumph.

Ljungberg broke free from the clutches of John Terry and surged to the edge of the Chelsea area before curling his shot delightfully out of Cudicini's reach and into the far corner.

In the process the Super Swede became the first player since Tottenham's Bobby Smith in 1961-62 to score in successive FA Cup finals. It was all too much for Chelsea to contend with. To their great credit, however, their commitment to the cause of salvaging a trophy from their unpredictable season could not be called into question.

In fact, they had slightly the better of an opening half which had, in the main, been a dull and somewhat unsavoury affair.

For too long it was a bit like a local fracas exported to Wales, with a quality of football that would not have been deemed out of place in one of the local leagues.

Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri had produced a contentious late selection surprise by relegating Terry to the substitutes' bench, even though the first choice centre-back had passed a morning fitness test following a worrying night with a mystery virus complaint.

And then there was, Mr Angry, Graeme Le Saux. He set the tone with a reckless lunge on Lauren which could, and probably should, have resulted in outright dismissal in less than two minutes, rather than a mere yellow-card admonishment.

Strangely it seemed to take Arsenal a long time to get into anything approaching their customary accomplished stride. And there was a period in the second half when David Seaman plucked a Gudjohnsen shot out from under his crossbar and then Le Saux drove over the top rather wastefully when it seemed it might be Chelsea's day after all.

But Arsenal always had a little bit too much class, as we suspected, and that was the key factor.

Now, with the club's eighth FA Cup a triumph firmly in the bag, a second League and FA Cup Double for manager Wenger is just a solitary point away.

Undoubtedly a similar kind of emphatic strike will be required again if the objective is to be achieved at Old Trafford, of all places, on Wednesday night.