Chelsea secured an FA Cup final place after prevailing over their London adversaries in the semi final in a rather tedious encounter on Saturday April 18 2009. Chelsea came out on top 2-1 with Didier Drogba's 86th-minute winner, keeping alive interim manager Gus Hiddink's hope of winning at least one major piece of silverware for the London team this season.
 
Drogba beat Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski after receiving a gorgeous pass from Frank Lampard, achieving an easy finish by slotting the ball in the net.
 
It was a decent end to a rather disappointing football match. Arsenal started lively and went ahead with an early Theo Walcott goal, a deflected shot that agave them the lead 16 minutes into the match. Arsenal struggled in every single department after scoring that goal however, as their game increasingly deteriorated.
 
Chelsea regrouped, recaptured territory in the middle of the park and progressively out muscled the initiative from the Gunners. Florent Malouda levelled before half-time with a strike beating Fabianski at his near post and. Arsenal’s response after the break was that they should mass more players behind the ball and reinforce their defences in an attempt to hold the score – or so it seemed. There was next to nothing on offer from Arsene Wenger’s men in attack.
 
Chelsea manager Hiddink has achieved a miracle in stablising the club after their hesitant start of the season. The club has assured itself one major final already, is through to the semi finals where they will face Barcelona for the Champions League, and they are still potential challengers for the Premiership crown.
 
Arsene Wenger’s men at times appeared simply lost, in particular his last four in defence. Chelsea had three opportunities to increase their tally in the first half alone, with almost zero retaliation from the Arsenal strikers, who also had a day they would rather forget.  
 
Chelsea remained on top of proceedings in the second half, and it was the usual suspect in the end to resolve the matter for Chelsea.
 
Didier Drogba, who was more or less perceived as a liability at the beginning of the season, has metamorphosed as the Chelsea miracle under Guus Hiddink.
 
His run of eight goals in nine games is testimonial to his stunning form of late, having scored the last goal in the 4-4 thriller against Liverpool for the Champions league, and now being on target again for Chelsea in the 86^th minute, sealing the fate for Arsenal.
 
"Didier is amazing every week, in every game," Hiddink said as quoted by the BBC. "We have lots of games, every three or four days, but he is delivering every time.
 
"A striker is measured by his goals - and he is scoring. But he works so hard that a player like him does so much for the team even when he is not" he said.
 
Arsene Wenger was disappointed to have bowed out in such a lacklustre and tame way to Chelsea in the semi-final. He was quoted as saying by the club’s official website:
 
"The disappointment of the day is that we gave two cheap goals away, and in a game of that level it has a bad outcome, especially with seven minutes to go. It was a big blow. The two teams looked jaded physically, maybe us a bit more than them.
 
"We missed a few opportunities on crosses in the second half, and were unlucky in the last minute. They had one or two chances, but it looked like it would go to extra time, until we gave a goal away that you should not at this level."