Gallas grabs late winner for Gunners

William Gallas scored a controversial late winner as Arsenal came from behind to beat Hull 2-1 and set up an FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea.

Arsenal: Celebrate late winner

The Tigers won 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League and they looked set to repeat the trick on Tuesday night after taking the lead through Nicky Barmby's deflected strike.

However Robin van Persie drew Arsenal level in the 74th minute and Gallas headed in a suspiciously offside winner with six minutes remaining to set up an all-London last-four clash at Wembley on April 18.

When the Gunners last played a major final under the Twin Towers, winning the FA Cup in 1998 and then the following season's Charity Shield, Arsenal were a much different proposition - led by midfielder enforcer and captain Patrick Vieira, soon to be inspired by the genius of Thierry Henry.

Now, though, is the turn of Arsene Wenger's new generation to repay their manager's unwavering faith that they have the talent to deliver silverware once again.

Hull, though, had clearly not read the script on Tuesday night as they snatched the lead on 13 minutes when an angled shot from Barmby - who later had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside decision - saw his shot deflected up off Johan Djourou and over Lukasz Fabianski.

The young Polish goalkeeper - given a chance to impress in the cups ahead of regular number one Manuel Almunia - was at full stretch to tip over a free-kick from Geovanni, who smashed a superb strike here during the Tigers' league win here in September.

Arshavin's angled drive was diverted past the near post by Anthony Gardner but Hull remained dangerous with a header from Kamil Zayatte dropping on the roof of the net.

As half-time loomed, only a sliding block from Samuel Ricketts prevented Arshavin drilling in Walcott's low cross, then the Russian flashed a right-foot volley across the face of goal.

In the second half Abou Diaby's header from a corner bounced just inches the wrong side of the post, Arshavin had another close-range effort blocked, then Djourou's header was cleared off the line - with Alex Song hooking the loose ball wide.

Referee Mike Riley's patience finally wore out with Hull's time-wasting, and he cautioned goalkeeper Boaz Myhill for moving the ball at a free-kick.

Van Persie then forced the Hull keeper into a full stretch save from his bending, 25-yard free-kick before seeing a looping header hit the top of the bar with Myhill beaten.

The equaliser came through van Persie with 16 minutes left. Substitute Nicklas Bendtner's persistence in the penalty area paid off when he stabbed the ball across to Arshavin, who pulled it back to the penalty spot for the Dutchman to score.

Bendtner had a close-range shot blocked behind by Ricketts but Arsenal won it with six minutes to go when Gallas - stripped of the captaincy by Wenger earlier in the campaign after publicly questioning the young team's battling qualities - nodded in, from an offside position.