GARY Speed has some ghosts to lay to rest in the FA Cup - and in particular, with Wanderers' quarter-final opponents Arsenal.

The veteran midfielder reached the final of the grand old competition on two occasions with Newcastle United, only to suffer the heartbreak of defeat.

And he has crashed out of the FA Cup against the Gunners no fewer than four times during his career, which has seen him make over 40 appearances in the cup, scoring 11 goals along the way.

The first of those occasions was at Wembley in 1998 when Arsene Wenger's side completed a memorable league and cup double with a 2-0 victory over the Toon with goals from Nicolas Anelka and Marc Overmars.

A year later, and Newcastle were back at Wembley only to be steamrollered by the infamous Manchester United side of 1999 on their way to the treble.

Having won the Championship and Division One titles and a Coca Cola Cup runners-up medal with Leeds, Speed admits he is keen to win the biggest competition which has escaped his reach so far.

Whilst still with Newcastle, Speed said: "The losers' medals are in the back of a cupboard somewhere, but they're of no importance to me.

"They're losers' medals and they're nowhere near my championship medals."

Speed has an enviable FA Cup record, having competed in the competition for the last 14 years. And the midfielder admitted he is keener than ever to get his hands on the trophy.

He said: "It's even more exciting now than it used to be for me because I've never won it and, the older you get, the more you think there's not many years left to win the thing.

"I remember watching the cup final on the telly as a kid and when you get there, you reminisce about when you were younger,

"It's a very special competition."

Speed made his first FA Cup appearance for Leeds against Barnsley in a third round clash back in 1991. The game was drawn 1-1, but Leeds won the replay 4-0 before a marathon tie with soon-to-be league champions Arsenal.

The game went to three replays before they finally ended Leeds' challenge - strikes from Ian Wright and Anders Limpar cancelling out a Lee Chapman goal.

The Welshman's first FA Cup goal arrived in the 1992-3 season against Charlton. Once again, Speed found himself up against Arsenal in the next round, and scored in a 2-2 draw.

Carl Shutt and Gary McAllister scored for Leeds in the replay at Highbury, but Arsenal were too strong, and ran out 3-2 winners with Wright on target twice.

Speed's first taste of a cup upset arrived in 1994 when Leeds forced their way past Crewe only to be knocked out by First Division Oxford.

Despite a 2-2 draw at the Manor Ground, with Speed on target, Jim Magilton scored the decisive goal in extra time as the Us shocked Leeds at Elland Road in the replay.

Speed's last FA Cup game for Leeds was against Manchester United, but Tony Yeboah's goal was cancelled out by efforts from Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes and Brian McClair, as the Reds forced their way through.

The Welshman left Leeds in July 1996 destined for Everton.

Although billed as a dream move to his boyhood club, Speed's time in Mersyside was anything but happy.

In his first season the Toffees - who had won the trophy a season earlier - were beaten 3-2 by Bradford, with veteran Chris Waddle scoring a memorable goal from 50 yards.

Speed scored in the final minute of a miserable game for the Blues, but the writing was on the wall for boss Joe Royle, who left the club a month later.

Happier times arrived almost instantly for Speed as he secured a £5.5 m move to Tyneside, particularly in the FA Cup.

Although he missed the third round victory over his old club Everton, which came courtesy of a goal from Ian Rush, Speed played in every game up to and including the 1998 final against Arsenal.

He scored in the 3-1 quarter final victory against Barnsley, but was to suffer his second cup final disappointment, after having previously been on a losing side for Leeds against Aston Villa in the League Cup.

Once again, Speed went all the way with Newcastle in 1999 only to fall at the final hurdle.

The Magpies negotiated a tricky route to the final, despatching Crystal Palace, Bradford, Blackburn, Everton and Spurs before facing Manchester United in the final.

Unfortunately, Newcastle never got started against the league champions, who won with goals from Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes.

It looked like being a hat-trick of final appearances for Speed when Newcastle reached the semi finals, only to be beaten by the eventual cup winners Chelsea.

Speed played in every round, scored in an impressive 6-1 thrashing of Spurs in the third round and also notched a goal in the quarter final against Tranmere Rovers, but a Gus Poyet double knocked Newcastle out in the semis.

Since then, Speed has been no further than the last eight of the competition.

He was injured in Newcastle's third round exit against Aston Villa in 2001, and was also a spectator as goals from Arsenal's Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires and Sol Campbell knocked Newcastle out in the quarter finals in 2002.

Speed didn't play in the 3-2 third round exit against Wolves in 2003, but returned to action in 2004, as a Bruno Cheyrou brace for Liverpool knocked them out in round four.

After leaving St James Park for Wanderers in the summer for £750,000, Speed's only involvement in the cup so far came in the 1-0 victory over Fulham in round five.