TravelGuides – Arsenal v Chelsea: Women’s FA Cup final – live! | Football

4 min There was so much space for Kirby to run into. Wubben-Moy was drawn across to challenge Fleming (I think), and Maritz didn’t have time to cover from right-back.

Out of nothing, Fran Kirby has given Chelsea the lead. The ball ricocheted off a couple of players, 35 yards from the Arsenal goal, and bounced nicely for Kirby. She scampered straight through the middle, drew Zinsberger and clipped the ball calmly into the far corner.

1 min Peep peep! After the players take the knee, Arsenal kick off from right to left.

The players of both sides are introduced to Lesley Lloyd, captain of Southampton’s cup-winning side of 1971. Then it’s time for the national anthem. It’s a cold, drizzly day, not exactly cup final weather, and the players look keen to get down to business.

“Both teams were indeed rusty for the league game, but Arsenal had had a couple of European matches to warm up with; things will be more balanced now,” says Charles Antaki. “Arsenal fans will still be fretting over the unavailability of Leah Williamson, though Lotte Wubben-Moy has stepped up impressively. And the bench looks terrific – Iwabuchi, Nobbs, Foord – so, Arsenal-style heavily-qualified sort-of positive anticipation…”

This is a fine piece on that 1971 final, including some striking details about the state of the pitch and the nutrition.

These teams have met once in the 2021-22 season, a 3-2 win for Arsenal on the opening weekend. Both teams were rusty, though, so I’m not sure how much we should read into it.

“What an array of talent in front of us today,” says Bill Hargreaves. “I saw Beth Mead talking through the goals of the season so far: some belters. Play up!”

Indeed, six of the top 11 in this year’s Ballon d’Or are involved today: Sam Kerr, Vivianne Miedema, Pernille Harder, Jessie Fleming, Fran Kirby and Magda Eriksson.

Arsenal (4-3-3) Zinsberger; Maritz, Wubben-Moy, Beattie, Catley; Walti, Maanum, Little; Mead, Miedema, McCabe.
Substitutes: Williams, Goldie, Boye, Patten, Schnaderbeck, Nobbs, Parris, Iwabuchi, Foord.

Chelsea (3-4-3) Berger; Bright, Carter, Eriksson; Cuthbert, Ingle, Leupolz, Reiten; Fleming, Kerr, Kirby.
Substitutes: Musovic, Nouwen, England, Ji, Charles, Harder, Spence, Andersson, Fox.

Arsenal might play a 4-2-3-1, with Kim Little as a No10. Expect the wide forwards on both sides, especially Arsenal’s, to switch wings at some stage.

No surprises in the Arsenal team, which is unchanged from the 2-0 win over Manchester United a fortnight ago. The outstanding front three of Katie McCabe, Vivianne Miedema and Beth Mead – who literally weren’t born when the Crash Test Dummies wrote a song about them – will be their main threat.

Emma Hayes makes one change from Chelsea’s lsat game, a 5-0 WSL win over Birmingham before the international break. Sophie Ingle is preferred in midfield to Drew Spence. That means Pernille Harder, who is still feeling her way back from injury, is on the bench.

Sunday 9 May 1971 was a big day in the Bolton and District Cricket Association League. Atherton CC were skittled for 68 by Astley and Tyldesley Collieries, who sneaked to victory by one wicket. I know this because the scores from that league were printed in the Guardian the following day. So were results from the Cross Cup, and the Glossop League, and the Shettleston Marathon, and the North of England Lacrosse League, and the Longwood 10-mile Road Race, and I’m genuinely not making any of this up.

One sporting event was, or rather is, conspicuous by its absence: the inaugural Women’s FA Cup final. Nada. Zilch. Sweet bugger all. Not even the scoreline. (Southampton beat Stewarton Thistle 4-1, with Pat Davies scoring a hat-trick.) The world has changed since the heyday of DCI Gene Hunt, and it’s not just the Guardian that has embraced women’s football. Today’s final between Arsenal and Chelsea will be a celebration of 50 years of the FA Cup, and of how good the sport has become.

The sheer quality of both teams makes this the perfect final. It’s also a riddle of the future: in which season did the two best teams in the country meet in the FA Cup final, having finished first and third in the league?

The answer, obviously, is 2020-21. This match belongs to last season, when Arsenal finished behind Chelsea and Manchester City, and is being played now because of the backlog caused by Covid. Arsenal have replaced City as Chelsea’s main rivals this season, whatever Emma Hayes says publicly, and the two are involved in a cracking race for the title.

One of them will make history today. Either Arsenal will win the FA Cup for a record-extending 15th time, or Chelsea will do so for the third – and, more significantly, complete their first domestic treble.

Most importantly of all, the result will be in every newspaper tomorrow.

Kick off 2pm.