It was Arsenal’s day in 2002 – but it has mostly been Chelsea’s ever since | Amy Lawrence

Ray Parlour’s memorable goal earned FA Cup final glory 15 years ago yet served as a prelude to an era of Roman Abramovich-backed Chelsea dominance

Winding the clock back to 2002, the last time Arsenal and Chelsea contested the FA Cup final, one of the telling moments took place at the end. Tony Adams, in what would be his final appearance before retirement, sought out a young John Terry, who had come on as a substitute, to offer some words of consolation. He recalls the exchange in his new book, Sober, as “saying that his time would come but this was ours”. He was right on both counts.

It is only with hindsight that the dividing line around that time in terms of these London rivals makes sense. The 2002 final marks the midpoint of three decades of football that had Arsenal as the dominant force from the capital in part one and Chelsea taking over in part two. In the 15 years leading up to that FA Cup showdown Arsenal had the silverware, with a little more to come, from successes under George Graham and Arsène Wenger. They were days away from clinching their fourth league title across that period in addition to a cluster of cups. At the time Chelsea had not won a title since the 1950s and the occasional cup was cherished but did not give the impression they were in position to become a leading force.

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