Chelsea and Arsenal met in the 2016 Final
Photo: Chelsea FC
Women are Arsenal’s last hope of a trophy
by Asif Burhan
The biggest attendance in England tomorrow will be at Wembley Stadium where a crowd of over 40,000 is expected to watch the Womens FA Cup Final.
Arsenal were soundly beaten 3-0 in their last league outing away to Birmingham City and a 0-0 draw at struggling Yeovil has put paid to their league hopes. Chelsea haven’t played a league game since April 18 but have been eliminated from the Champions League by Wolfsburg.
The match will feature some players with plenty of Cup Final experience.
Former Arsenal and England team-mates Alex Scott and Katie Chapma have won so many FA Cups between them that neither of them knows for sure who has won more. The records show that they have each been part of a record nine FA Cup winning-sides, Scott appearing in seven finals all for Arsenal, Chapman representing four different sides in six winning teams.
Both Chapman and Scott have already had the honour of lifting the trophy at Wembley in the three years in which the National Stadium has hosted the showpiece of women’s football and one or the other of them will make history on Saturday evening as the first footballer in the history of the English game to win the FA Cup on an incredible 10 occasions. Chapman, who won her first trophy with Millwall Lionesses as a 14-year-old admitted:
‘It would be incredible to lift the trophy again. You love to play in this type of game and for me to lead this team out again and go and pick up the FA Cup would be wonderful”.
Chelsea, unbeaten in WSL, saw their European hopes dashed last weekend by Germans VfL Wolfsburg for the third season in a row and too many draws in the league means they could win each of their remaining league games and still miss out on the title on goal difference. Semi-final defeats in the Champions League and Continental Cup mean Saturday may represent their only chance of securing a trophy.
Arsenal have once more disappointed in their league campaign. Despite some impressive one-off results in the second half of the season under new coach Joe Montemurro, a goalless draw at Yeovil and a heavy defeat to Birmingham means they are likely to miss out on a coveted Champions League place for a fifth year in a row. Yet Arsenal already have a trophy in the cabinet after overcoming Manchester City against the odds in the Continental Cup final. Drawing on that experience and their FA Cup Final win over Chelsea at Wembley two years ago they will hope to spring a surprise again.
It is symptomatic of the club’s relative positions that ten of Chelsea’s Cup-winning starters in 2015 are still at the club and could play on Saturday while only four of Arsenal’s winning team from the following year featured in their last league match. Chelsea manager Emma Hayes believes
“Arsenal of the last five years have become cup specialists. They have won Continental Cups and FA Cups in that period because that’s what they’ve been set out to do. There’s been a bit more consistency, in terms of results, for Chelsea over that five-year period.”
More than 40,000 tickets have been sold for the 4th consecutive final at Wembley Stadium, with the FA confident of a fourth successive record attendance to better the mark of 35,271 set last May. Despite the magnitude of the occasion or perhaps because of it, a pregnant Hayes has decided not to lead out her team tomorrow, ceding the honour to assistant manager, Paul Green.
“It wasn’t a difficult decision, I have to put my pregnancy first and I don’t want to agitate anything – I’ve just been advised to take it easy, and there is enough stress on days like these”
The game is a repeat of the 2016 final which Arsenal won 1-0 with Danielle Carter being the scorer. Prost will be tweeting live from Wembley tomorrow starting at 8am Cascadia time and 4pm London time.
See Also: Arsenal Women hone in on double, with Chelsea in Gunners’ sites
