Chelsea mugged, outgunned and with inferior tactics were unceremoniously dumped out of the FA Cup by holders Arsenal.
The advantage of playing at home proved ineffectual as Chelsea's midfield capitulated to an Arsenal side determined to prove they are capable to doing the double 'Double'.
Chelsea boss accommodated Emmanuel Petit but at the expense of a balanced midfield.
Arsenal's counter-attacking policy reaped rewards on 21 minutes with Sylvain Wiltord running at the heart of the Chelsea rearguard.
He passed right to Patrick Vieira whose strike towards goal was deflected into his own goal by the luckless John Terry.
Just 13 minutes later and the Arsenal faithful were again dreaming of another Cup Final in Cardiff in May.
This time it was Vieira's chance to repay Wiltord. Vieira ran onto Wiltord's pass and arrowed a low right footer past Carlo Cudicini from just inside the Chelsea area, wide on the right.
Chelsea responded and were unlucky to have a goal disallowed from substitute Eidur Gudjohnsen for offside on 63 minutes.
Three minutes later Arsenal centre back Pascal Cygan hauled down Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and received a second yellow card and was dismissed from the field. The giant Frenchman will now miss the semi-final.
Chelsea now had their tails up and got a goal back through Terry who latched on to a Hasselbaink pass and deflected a low angled header past Stuart Taylor with 11 minutes remaining.
But Arsenal had the laugh when Lauren went on a long run on the right. He cut into the Chelsea area and drove home a low left footer which Cudicini could only help into the net.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was understandably happy after the game saying: "We showed good passing, movement and defending.
"We started edgy but became stronger. The second half showed we had great character. We got tired but I'm proud of my team.
"We gave a lot of energy to the FA Cup which affected us in the Champions League, when we were not at our best." Arsenal's Thierry Henry drew blood from a coin thrown at him from someone in the crowd as they celebrated the third goal.
"Chelsea have to ban this man because one day somebody will throw something else," warned Wenger.
Chelsea captain John Terry was gutted after the game saying: "They had two shots on target and scored three goals.
"They caught us on the counter-attack. They came through our midfield for their first two goals. We should have stopped them.
"But we started superbly and we were all over them for most of the game." Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri was equally frustrated saying: "We had no luck tonight, but they were clever with their counter-attack and pressed us.
"We could not get the ball to Zola or Hasselbaink. We dominated but they scored."