FA Cup Final: Arsenal v Manchester Utd Millennium Stadium, 3.0:  This has been another season of headlong speed for Arsenal, but not of the type Thierry Henry provided before his Achilles tendon problem.

The side, stripped of their Premiership "invincibility" at Old Trafford, plummeted from grace, but months later their confidence climbed once again. If this afternoon's FA Cup final were all about trajectory, Arsene Wenger's team would end it above Manchester United.

The Arsenal manager is invigorated by the form that at least ensured the runners-up position for his side in their defence of the 2004 title and those results help him deny the Highbury style suffers from an inbuilt frailty. Since United will exercise their right to tangle with Arsenal as unflinchingly as the rules allow, this is likely to be the issue in Cardiff.

"We have to be faithful to the way we play football," said Wenger. "We had 10 games to go and we were (four) points behind United. We had to play Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton, West Brom and Blackburn. We knew it would be difficult to get in front of United . . . we have finished the season six points ahead of them and we have gained (10) points and rebuilt our confidence level."

Alex Ferguson will beam at United's sequence of seven unbeaten matches with Arsenal in all competitions, excluding the Charity Shield. Their rivalry will be jagged today and both sets of players desire a trophy that will permit them to feel optimistic.

Absent Chelsea have a lot to do with this final. Wenger calls them "the third force" before, in the interests of truth, adding "if not the first". There is disquiet and a trace of dread in his characterisation of the approach they employ.

"I feel they are a financially doped club," he complained. "They have performance enhancement because their financial resources are unlimited . . . it puts a pressure on the market that is not very healthy." Wenger is still angered by Chelsea's meeting with Ashley Cole.

He and Ferguson each has a personality guaranteed to needle the other, and they are all the more on edge now that another club holds power in England.

For that reason any chance of a trophy is no longer to be taken for granted. United are sure they are the more hardened side and they view Arsenal complaints over their alleged physicality as the whimper of faint-hearts. It is unwarranted to stigmatise the Old Trafford squad as a gang of bullies when, among others, Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney will all be in action in the FA Cup final. They are the sort of footballers who use skill to dish out punishment.

Arsenal's Jose Antonio Reyes was roughed up in the first Premiership meeting of the season and Mikael Silvestre was sent off for butting Freddie Ljungberg in the return match at Highbury.

It is instructive to recall, nonetheless, United were only 3-2 ahead when the Frenchman was dismissed and 21 minutes remained. John O'Shea's goal close to the full-time whistle was United's sixth in the league against Arsenal this season.

Wenger knows defeats are not all to be blamed on opponents throwing their weight around. He said, "and I don't think they were so much better than us. I would agree when they went to 2-2 and then 3-2 we died and we did not have the resources to come back. But we had three opportunities at 2-1 and we didn't take them."

Despite the rationalisations, it hurts him personally to be beaten by Ferguson. Reminded of Arsenal's current record against United he says, "Well done, Alex, you speak very well, Alex," as if the plain facts were a jibe. There is ill will between the sides to be reopened by the slightest graze of a misplaced stud this afternoon and Wenger, speaking of the attention the FA is likely to give to any disorder, said: "We are fined before we start."

A reconstructed team is taking shape and a disappointing season has been put to good use. In the year ahead they may be depending on Philippe Senderos, Cesc Fabregas, Reyes, Robin van Persie and, if Cole leaves, Gael Clichy. None of them is older than 21.

If any of the youngsters are to count this final as a breakthrough they will have to dispel the impression it is United who have the character of match-winners.

Arsenal have repeatedly been torn open by Ferguson's side. They have to trust the return of Gilberto Silva has solidified the midfield and that Senderos, seemingly to be picked instead of Sol Campbell, has the maturity to deal with Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Much as United are distracted by the Malcolm Glazer takeover and the reaction in Cardiff of supporters dressed in mourning black, the strain is on Arsenal to play better than they have during competitive matches over 27 months in which they have been incapable of overcoming Ferguson's team.