Sylvain Wiltord came off the Arsenal bench to fire a second-half double that sent the holders crashing out of the FA Cup at Highbury this afternoon.

After a first-half high on temper and low on talking points, the game burst into life with Thierry Henry's clinical penalty seven minutes after the break.

Chelsea countered with a stunning Jimmy Foyd Hasselbaink strike, but Wiltord took his FA Cup tally to five with two neat tucks to give the scoreline a more realistic look.

With the home side dominating for long periods, the holders could not exert any sustained pressure on the Gunners' rearguard, who were missing Tony Adams and Martin Keown, and failed to get to grips with the midfield where Patrick Vieira was back to his imperious best.

Dennis Bergkamp had the ball in Chelsea's net after just three minutes but was pulled up for a foul on Marcel Desailly.

Arsenal were asking most of the early questions but Thierry Henry, who had earlier shot tamely at Carlo Cudicini, again misfired when colleagues were crying out for the pass.

Chelsea rarely threatened, athough Cudicini was hardly overworked, despite Arsenal's dominance of midfield possession.

Both sides made up for the lack of passion in the opening exchanges, when Robert Pires' tackle on Dennis Wise, prompted a free-for-all with ladies accessories to the fore, which resulted in bookings for Wise, Henry and Hasselbaink.

Slavisia Jokanovic and Stepanovs joined them as the half ended on a distinctly ugly note, although Celestine Babayaro was fortunate to escape unpunished after firstly wrestling Freddie Ljungberg to the ground in the box, then stamping on the same player's heel, before taking a Beckham-esque flick at Dennis Bergkamp.

Jesper Gronkjaer came on for Samuele Dalla Bona and Eidur Gudjohnsen replaced the ineffective Zola up front for Chelsea at the start of the second period, but Arsenal were in front after Gronkjaer's first telling contribution - at the wrong end.

He pushed over Lauren as the Cameroon midfielder ran into the box in pursuit of Henry's long cross from the left and Henry stepped up to drive in his 17th goal of the season from the spot.

Ten minues later, out of nothing, Gus Poyet picked out Hasselbaink with a low ball and the striker turned superbly to confound Stepanovs and Oleg Luzhny before rifling an unstoppable shot past David Seaman.

Chelsea were transformed, and could have taken the lead five minutes later when a Wise corner fell to Gudjohnsen and he volleyed against the post from five yards.

That was good as it got for the holders, however, as Wiltord, who had replaced Robert Pires, promptly took centre stage.

First a long ball from the back split the Chelsea defence and Wiltord hared through to loft the ball over the keeper from 15 yards, before with just seven minutes remaining, Gronkjaer and Babayaro contrived to present the ball to Lauren by the corner flag.

He had time and a half to follow Wiltord's clever movement, and promptly presented the ball on a plate for the coup de grace.

Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Luzhny, Stepanovs, Cole, Ljungberg, Vieira, Pires (Wiltord 69), Lauren, Henry, Bergkamp (Vivas 81).
Subs Not Used: Manninger, Malz, Kanu.
Booked: Dixon, Henry, Stepanovs.

Chelsea: Cudicini, Ferrer (Stanic 83), Desailly, Terry, Babayaro, Jokanovic, Dalla Bona (Gudjohnsen 46), Wise, Poyet, Hasselbaink, Zola (Gronkjaer 46). Subs Not Used: de Goey, Leboeuf. Booked: Wise, Hasselbaink, Jokanovic.

Att: 38,096