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GGG13: Ray Parlour v Chelsea, May 2002

It's time to reveal the Gunners' Greatest 50 Goals - as voted for by Arsenal's fans.

"It's only Ray Parlour." Those words, uttered by Chelsea supporter Tim Lovejoy on Sky Sports' 'Fanzone' coverage of the 2002 FA Cup final, added extra flavour to what was already a classic Arsenal goal.

Ray was hardly a prolific scorer in his playing days but he wasn't adverse to a long-range effort and a handful of them flew in, including Valencia in 2001, Werder Bremen in 2000 - and this one at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

The final was locked at 0-0 with 20 minutes left when Tony Adams found Sylvain Wiltord with a pass out of defence. The Frenchman turned away from his marker and slipped a clever ball into the path of Parlour, who had made a storming run through the centre.



Parlour had William Gallas in close attention but the French defender backed off to cover Wiltord's run into the box. Parlour checked his own run and, after evading the backtracking John Terry, found himself in space 25 yards from goal. He let fly and the ball flew into the top corner beyond Carlo Cudicini's despairing dive.



Ten minutes later Freddie Ljungberg added a second and Arsenal had the first half of their Double. But it was Parlour's strike which finally opened up a tight, tense cup final.

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