The Gunners boss is keen to learn the lessons from that Highbury setback when the two arch-rivals come head-to-head again in the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

Back in February the two sides played out a thrilling league encounter during which Arsenal led 2-1 at half-time thanks to goals from Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp.

However, United hit back when Cristiano Ronaldo netted twice in four minutes after the break and John O'Shea put the finishing touches on the win with a fourth goal as Arsenal chased the game.

And Wenger admitted: "I watched the video of that game just the other day by myself at the training ground.

"Seeing it again, I don't think Manchester United were so much better than us. We had many chances, but made some big mistakes.

"We tried to kill them off when we were 2-1 up, but then we got caught on the break.

"They scored quickly to make it 2-2 and then 3-2 and we died a little bit and did not have enough resources to come back and fight.

"United had a perfect day and we made some mistakes."

However, the Frenchman is determined not to change his side's style and has promised the fans an exciting Cup Final.

"We will be faithful to the way we play football. We will not just sit back and stop them playing and then try to get some chances - we will keep playing our football.

"We know exactly the way we want to play, the only thing we don't know is who exactly will play on the day."

Wenger did confirm that Jose Antonio Reyes will start against United, while Frederik Ljungberg is in the squad despite only having recently recovered from his hip injury.