LONDON Arsenal booked their place in the English FA Cup final on Sunday after beating north London rivals Tottenham 2-1 in front of 66,000 fans at Old Trafford.

The gunners will play Liverpool in the final in Cardiff on May 12 after the Merseysiders saw off second division battlers Wycombe Wanderers 2-1.

In their first game under new Coach Glenn Hoddle Spurs got their noses in front early in the first half thanks to Gary Doherty's header, before French international Patrick Vieira nodded Arsenal back on level terms.

After almost incessant second-half pressure Vieira's compatriot Robert Pires slotted the winner for Arsenal 16 minutes from time, and only the heroics of Spurs goalkeeper Neil Sullivan prevented Arsenal winning by a bigger margin.

Tottenham lost their Captain Sol Campbell, who was receiving treatment when Arsenal drew level, and later saw striker Les Ferdinand taken off with a hamstring injury.

Like Arsenal Liverpool left it late before seeing off a stubborn challenge by Wycombe.

Substitute Emile Heskey broke the deadlock with a towering header 11 minutes from time and Robbie Fowler curled in a brilliant free-kick six minutes later to double Liverpool's advantage.

Wycombe refused to throw in the towel and Keith Ryan gave Gerard Houllier's men a fright by lobbing Sander Westerveld with two minutes left.

Arsenal striker Thierry Henry said the narrow margin of victory did not reflect his side's superiority against their bitter local rivals, AFP reported.

"Nobody can claim it was an unfair result," said Henry. "We played by far the better football, but sometimes you wonder if you are going to get your reward.

"If I'm honest I've got to say we created a lot of chances which we didn't take, but we kept going, kept passing the ball well and that's the only way to do it against a team playing the way Tottenham did.

"The great thing for us is that we won the game and we are in the final.

"For me it doesn't matter where that final is played, Cardiff or Wembley. It is a great feeling.

"We've done it and now we can throw all our focus for a while on the Champions League and the premiership."

The final is switching to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium this year while Wembley is rebuilt.

Spurs Manager Hoddle could not hide his disappointment after his first game in charge ended in defeat.

"Things have gone against us today," he said. "We didn't pass the ball as well as we should have done.

"It was very difficult coming in for six days and trying to get them to pass the ball a bit more, and we were probably caught between two stools."

Wycombe Manager Lawrie Sanchez, who scored the 1989 FA Cup final winner for Wimbledon against Liverpool, saluted his cup heroes after a valiant display against the League Cup winners and UEFA Cup semifinalists.