Football FA Cup Final: Routes to the final

ARSENAL

THIRD ROUND: Port Vale (h) 0-0. Replay: 1-1 aet (Bergkamp) Arsenal won 4-3 on penalties

FOURTH ROUND: Middlesbrough (a) 2-1 (Parlour, Overmars)

FIFTH ROUND: Crystal Palace (h) 0-0. Replay: 2-1 (Anelka, Bergkamp)

SIXTH ROUND: West Ham (h) 1-1 (Bergkamp pen). Replay: 1-1 aet (Anelka) Arsenal won 4-3 on penalties

SEMI-FINAL: Wolves (at Villa Park) 1-0 (Wreh)

NEWCASTLE

THIRD ROUND: Everton (a) 1-0 (Rush)

FOURTH ROUND: Stevenage (a) 1-1 (Shearer). Replay: 2-1 (Shearer 2)

FIFTH ROUND: Tranmere (h) 1-0 (Shearer)

SIXTH ROUND: Barnsley (h) 3-1 (Ketsbaia, Speed, Batty)

SEMI-FINAL: Sheffield United (at Old Trafford) 1-0 (Shearer)

Overseas

players

Up to 15 overseas players could be involved at Wembley today. The highest number to appear in an FA Cup final was 12 in last season's match between Chelsea and Middlesbrough.

The first overseas player to score in an FA Cup final was the Chilean, George Robledo, who headed the winning goal for Newcastle against Arsenal in 1952.

Overseas players at FA Cup finals in the 1990s

1990 Manchester United none, Crystal Palace none.

1991 Tottenham Hotspur two (Erik Thorstvedt, Nayim), Nottingham Forest none

1992 Liverpool two (Bruce Grobbelaar, Jan Molby), Sunderland none

1993 Sheffield Wednesday two (Roland Nilsson, John Harkes), Arsenal one (John Jensen)

1994 Manchester United three (Peter Schmeichel, Andrei Kanchelskis, Eric Cantona), Chelsea three (Dimitri Kharine, Jakob Kjeldbjerg, Erland Johnsen)

1995 Everton two (Anders Limpar, Daniel Amokachi), Manchester United one (Peter Schmeichel)

1996 Manchester United two (Peter Schmeichel, Eric Cantona), Liverpool none.

1997 Chelsea six (Frode Grodas, Franck Leboeuf, Dan Petrescu, Roberto di Matteo, Gianfranco Zola, Gianluca Vialli), Middlesbrough six (Gianluca Festa, Emerson, Juninho, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Mikkel Beck, Vladimir Kinder)

Records and

milestones

Arsenal and Newcastle will become only the second pair of clubs to meet each other in three FA Cup Finals, having previously met in 1932 and 1952. 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. 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. 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.