CARDIFF, 17 April 2005 — Arsenal reached the FA Cup final for the fourth time in five seasons yesterday with a 3-0 win over Blackburn Rovers in a scrappy semifinal settled by two late goals from Dutch substitute Robin van Persie.

Arsene Wenger’s team will now face the winners of today’s semifinal between Manchester United and Newcastle United back at the Millennium Stadium on May 21, keeping alive their hopes of finishing the season with a trophy.

It will be Arsenal’s 17th appearance in the final, a record Manchester United will match if they win today.

While their winning margin was deserved, Arsenal needed the two late goals to settle a game they really dominated after French midfielder Robert Pires side-footed them in front after 42 minutes. Van Persie, who had only come on in the 82nd minute, finished Rovers off with fine left-footed strikes after 86 minutes and in stoppage time.

Norwich, Southampton Throw It Away, Bolton Boost

In London, struggling Norwich City and Southampton both tossed away two-goal leads to deepen their relegation fears while Bolton Wanderers moved above Liverpool into fifth place in the English Premier League yesterday.

Bottom club Norwich led 3-1 at second-bottom Crystal Palace before goals by Michael Hughes and Andy Johnson, with a disputed late penalty, secured a 3-3 draw for the home team.

Third-bottom Southampton led 2-0 at home to Aston Villa but lost 3-2 after a superb second-half fight back by the visitors.

The results meant Norwich, with five games left, stayed bottom on 24 points, with Palace on 27, the same as Southampton and one point behind West Bromwich Albion who did not play. Senegal striker El Hadji Diouf scored Bolton’s winner in a 2-1 victory at Charlton Athletic, a result that lifted them a point above his former club, Champions League semifinalists Liverpool, who drew 2-2 with Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield.

In a dramatic match at Selhurst Park Palace went in front through Finn Joonas Kolkka but Dean Ashton struck twice to put Norwich in charge. When Leon McKenzie made it 3-1 eight minutes into the second half Norwich looked on course for their first away league win of the season.

Kevin Phillips and Peter Crouch put Southampton 2-0 up against Villa after only 13 minutes but second-half strikes by Carlton Cole, Peruvian Nolberto Solano and Steven Davis floored Harry Redknapp’s side.

Leaders Celtic Win Five-Goal Thriller Against Aberdeen

In Glasgow, Celtic fought back from two goals down to beat Aberdeen 3-2 thanks to a Craig Bellamy winner at Parkhead in the Scottish Premier League yesterday.

The victory puts them five points clear in the title race with Celtic on 83 points from 33 games while second-placed Rangers, who visit Dunfermline yesterday, have 78 from 32.

Zander Diamond opened the scoring for Aberdeen after 10 minutes and Darren Mackie made it 2-0 four minutes later to stun the crowd of 59,998 following a sensational start.

But Stanislav Varga’s header got Celtic back in the match in the 26th minute and John Hartson made it 2-2 after the break before on-loan Newcastle United striker Bellamy scored his first home goal for the club to clinch the points after 57 minutes.

Hargreaves Strike Sends Bayern Six Points Clear

In Frankfurt, Owen Hargreaves struck in the final minute to give Bayern Munich a 1-0 win at Hanover 96 yesterday and send the Bavarians six points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with five games left to play.

With Schalke 04 and VfB Stuttgart both losing, the England international’s right-foot blast from the edge of the area took a tired looking Bayern side a big step toward a 19th German title. With 29 games played in the 34-match season, Bayern lead the standings with 62 points, followed by Schalke on 56 and Stuttgart on 54.

Schalke took an early lead at home to Hamburg with a well worked Gerald Asamoah goal but Raphael Wicky headed the visitors back level and an 87th minute own goal from Mladen Krstajic, under pressure from Emile Mpenza, consigned them to a 2-1 defeat.

VfB Stuttgart’s hopes of challenging for the title also took a big blow when they went down 2-1 away to relegation candidates Hansa Rostock.