Reyes supplies the va-va-voom

SOCCER / Arsenal 2 Chelsea 1: Fortunes veered, the lead changed hands and hearts lurched but the balance of power could not be budged.

Arsenal's mastery of Chelsea continues for at least another five days, when the sides collide again, at Stamford Bridge, in the Premiership.

Claudio Ranieri's team have now lost to the Highbury side in the FA Cup during each of his four seasons in England.

After taking due note of the wrongly disallowed goal by Jesper Gronkjaer when the game was scoreless, any neutral observer will dwell on the accomplishments of Arsene Wenger. He has developed his team while retaining a continuity that is crucial to its concerted excellence.

Although newcomer Jose Antonio Reyes scored his first goals for Arsenal, the camaraderie and deep-rooted faith of this squad might still have led to recovery even if the young Spaniard had stayed subdued. Here, Thierry Henry was absent because of a foot injury and statistics suggest Arsenal are hooked on his panache.

When the moment demands it, however, Arsenal can break the addiction. Last year, the side prevailed at Manchester United in this tournament when the France forward made just a token appearance as a substitute. Wenger's players can adapt.

A collision with John Terry that forced Ray Parlour to go off yesterday, for example, was followed by an adjustment that saw Gilberto Silva's influence increase on the right.

The opening goal of Reyes's Arsenal career will be enshrined as the explosive moment when his talent was released, but Wenger preferred the winner. It had a seductive, technical refinement in the accord between provider and finisher, highlighting the interlocking gifts that make Arsenal so imposing.

Chelsea need to find a short cut to that maturity and Ranieri cornered his players yesterday to review their disappearance from this contest after the interval.

His side were so rugged and purposeful at the start of this captivating tie that the artistry of Robert Pires merely brushed against that hard surface of the encounter and left no mark. Direct means could have brought a few goals for Chelsea then.

After 33 minutes, Wayne Bridge had crossed with precision only for Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to send a non-descript header off target. Gronkjaer had no such problems three minutes later when Frank Lampard set him up to nod past Jens Lehmann, but he was incorrectly ruled offside by the linesman.

Four minutes from the interval, Chelsea were in front at last. Lehmann hoiked a clearance and Scott Parker volleyed the ball back towards the penalty area. Adrian Mutu side-stepped Kolo Toure before a left-footed drive found the net from the edge of the area.

In so engrossing a game, Arsenal could never be despondent and after 27 minutes one of Dennis Bergkamp's many delicate passes set up Cole for a shot that came off Carlo Cudicini's foot. But it was the visitors who had a hearty purpose. The meekness to come was flabbergasting.

By the interval they had shared six bookings with Arsenal, but there were few further traces of their presence thereafter. When Wenger's team edged into the lead, a tame Chelsea were often deterred by the trenchant Sol Campbell and reacted as if the situation was irretrievable.

Arsenal were inflamed. Vieira, booked for dissent shortly before half-time, was still arguing with referee Paul Durkin as the teams left the field. Wenger's talk had to feature warnings about the risk of a second yellow and he modified their attitude in other respects as well.

The aggression was given new focus and the tempo quickened. "In the second half we were more compact and we won more of the fights," the manager said. Reyes triumphed in his battle to rediscover the talent that had seduced Arsenal into paying a potential £17 million for him.

There was foraging to pave the way for his flair as Gilberto, in the 56th minute, forced a corner on the right. It was cleared back to the substitute Edu and when he rolled it to Reyes, the Spaniard made a wonderfully clean connection to sweep a 25-yarder high past Cudicini.

The goalkeeper, beset by a recurrence of his groin strain, had to be replaced and so avoided direct experience of Reyes's crowning moment. The splendid Vieira snapped up possession after 61 minutes and tucked a delicious pass inside Mario Melchiot. Reyes, timing his break perfectly, had the momentum to burst through for a finish that could not be prevented from rolling over the line by Neil Sullivan's first touch.