I HEAD for Kilburn - it's always buzzing on Wembley match days. But the streets are strangely free of footie fans until Dave and me head up the High Road towards the tube station. Ahead, in the dusty heat haze, is a blur of jumpy black-and-white stripes. It's like that fuzzy thing they do on satellite telly to cover up anything too naughty for us to see: but it's actually dozens of adidas striped blokes soaking up the sun and the jolly juice outside Power's Bar while bemused locals wander by. Passing Grannies get into the spirit of things by offering kisses on demand to Geordie toy-boys. But where are the Gooners? This is more-or-less Arsenal territory, but there are barely a handful to be seen. Then, half a dozen pass through in the most eye-catching way, bringing people out of shops and pubs onto the pavements to see what all the fuss is about. Driving down Kilburn High Road on a Saturday lunchtime is a tank. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, a tank. Not a pretend one, or an army personnel carrier. A tank. Bright yellow with steel crocodile treads motoring up the road at an impressive 20-odd miles an hour with the driver's head just visible above the cockpit, wearing headphones to protect his ears from the thundering engine. Sat above the gun are some acceptably pleased-with-themselves Gooners, no doubt wondering whether they would be needed in Jakarta later. They get the ovation they deserve as Newcastle fans hail their ingenuity. Once the Jubilee Line tube slides into Wembley Park, the Toon Army, deprived of a trip to the Twin Towers save an embarrassing Charity Shield thrashing two years ago, let rip. They have arrived and are determined to enjoy it. Arsenal fans are scarce as the Toon pack the funnel system onto Wembley Way, the noise magnificent with the roar of expectation, chanting and constant excited banter. Everyone is high on the beer, the moment or something else. The human tide has to split between the two flyovers on the approach to the Twin Towers. Someone at some stage must have decided that Arsenal fans go to the right and Newcastle to the left. Dave's wearing yellow and I'm in red and although we're strictly neutrals (one's a Brazil shirt, the other's Sampdoria away) we stand out sorely on the 'Newcastle' flyover. One Geordie is wearing a giant black-and-white top hat that covers his head and upper torso. He has a face painted on his naked stomach and, the piece de resistance, a fag hangs out of his belly button! Touch of class. While the Arsenal fans take it all in their stride - they've seen it all before countless times - the Geordies are staggering around in a Wembley wonderland. We're press-ganged into taking photos of gangs of mates in front of the towers, but it soon becomes apparent that the Toon Army are here in hope, not expectation. They have come to enjoy the day but they know better than most, having watched their dire side stagger about all season, that it will take a huge upturn in performance and fortune for Kenny Dalglish's team to beat the odds and deny Arsenal The Double. A quick chat with Stevenage manager Paul Fairclough and chairman Victor Green, who have just collected their Giantkillers Cup, and a once-over of the VIPs gallery - Jack Straw and Cardinal Basil Hulme are the prominent exhibits and we're off inside. Sat in Block 148, surrounded by Gooners bar one Geordie with his baffled nine-year-old clad in black and white, we sweated along with the players as Arsenal laboured to victory in the suffocating heat. The Londoners are only mildly interested in the dull opening exchanges until Overmars' strangely simple goal. They greet it with an equally disturbing amount of grace. The goal was inevitable and the Arsenal hordes don't explode in fierce celebration like they did en route to the championship, instead preferring to cheer with the enthusiasm of parents watching their young child debut in the lead part at the school play. It's not that they aren't thrilled, they just knew it was coming. Likewise the rest of the game. They had hoped for a champagne display from their heroes, for them to take dismal Newcastle apart. But they didn't get it and, perhaps feeling a little guilty (would it be greedy to want to complete The Double with a historic humiliation of Premiership opponents?) they settled for getting the job done and not once did they call for Ian Wright's introduction. Instead, they were content with the new generation. Their chants of 'Boring, Boring Arsenal' at the end were supposed to be ironic but were sadly accurate. Is it enough to simply be less awful than your opponents in an FA Cup Final? As soon as Tony Adams lifts the cup, we head out into a bizarre atmosphere on Wembley Way. The Geordies, who could not bring themselves to celebrate an afternoon of ineptitude from their team, were still heard muttering feeble praise - "It wasn't bad. We hit the post twice," they say. But they surely know that tells little of the true story. Newcastle were a disgrace to those fantastic fans who wandered away from the Twin Towers in virtual silence, depressed and deflated. Mr Dalglish, that display just was not fair. But what's fairness got to do with it?

OVERMARS RAN THEM RAGGED   THERE isn't much of him to look at, but Marc Overmars' presence in the Arsenal team on Saturday meant Arsene Wenger was confident of winning The Double. The flying Dutch winger has been the scourge of the Premiership in Arsenal's post-Christmas charge to glory. And it was fear of what Overmars could do to them that left Newcastle so unbalanced at Wembley that they never really gave themselves a chance of upsetting the odds. Knowing he had to try and counter that searing pace, Kenny Dalglish played the left-sided Alessandro Pistone on the right with Warren Barton on the right of midfield to help out. Yet within two minutes of the start, as Overmars picked up a pass from Tony Adams and skated past the shell-shocked Italian, the writing was on the wall. Every time Overmars received the ball, Newcastle looked vulnerable. And in their determination to crowd him out, they left space elsewhere that Ray Parlour was able to exploit to Man of the Match standards. Parlour, proving that he has been one of the triumphs of the Wenger era, presented Nicolas Anelka with a chance he should have buried. Three minutes later, though, Arsenal's surviving Dutchman showed why Dalglish was right to fear him. As Emmanuel Petit looked up just inside the Newcastle half, Overmars dashed forward inside Pistone. The Italian struggled to recover as Overmars nodded the ball on before tucking it neatly under the advancing Shay Given for his 16th goal of the season. Arsenal were on their way. Wenger now admits he thought it would be Overmars, rather than the missing Dennis Bergkamp, who would be the key to victory: "If you look at what we've done this season, look at the big games, then Marc was always there. In every big game, every match that really mattered, when we had to win, Marc was the determining player." There were goals like the late strike at Old Trafford in March that changed the course of the season, both goals at home to Leeds, the early settler at Middlesbrough in the fourth round, the clincher at Barnsley and two more against Everton. Marc might not be an attractive winger, not one of the skilful players who dribbles past defenders, but he has such pace, such intelligence," added Wenger. "He isn't an Ian Wright type, doesn't like talking about the game much, but I have so much respect for him. When he had the knee injury that ruled him out of Euro 96, people said he was finished, that he'd never be right. "It was a gamble to buy him, admitted Wenger, but I had to take the risk in case he went elsewhere and after the first pre-season training sessions I had no doubts. He didn't miss a session. The great thing is that whenever teams play us, we know their first thought is how they'll stop Marc. That gives the space to the others, and that's why Dennis was so remarkable this season.'' Pistone reacted to the winger's blitz by retreating further into his shell - any thought that he might push forward and try to supply crosses for the isolated Alan Shearer ended abruptly when he got caught out of position just before halftime. This time, Overmars slipped the ball to Parlour for a rising shot that flew over. With Patrick Vieira and Petit dominating their midfield battle with David Batty and Rob Lee, Arsenal were firmly in control. It was only in the first 20 minutes of the second half that Newcastle threatened to make a game of it, although you always felt the Gunners had extra gears should they need them. Nikos Dabizas' header - taken off Steve Howey's better-placed forehead - clipped the top of the bar two minutes later, but both managers agreed on the final turning point. Shearer seized on Martin Keown's one blemish, the defender treading on the ineffective Gary Speed's over-hit pass, and cracked a left-foot shot that beat David Seaman but hit the foot of the post and fizzed away. Time for the clincher, Parlour lobbing a ball over the top for Anelka to chase. Earlier in the season, the French teenager would have blown the chance, but the rapidly maturing youngster kept his nerve to shoot low past Given into the far corner. All that was left was for Tony Adams to repeat the glory of Frank McLintock 27 years ago and accept the FA Cup to complete an Arsenal Double. ''In September I couldn't even dream of The Double,'' admitted Wenger. ''I'd won things before, cups and leagues, in France and Japan, but never the Double. Coming to England I never thought we could do it, because of the teams we had to fight. The difference was that we won all the important games.''

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