Anyway, that’s your lot for this MBM, because Suzanne Wrack was at Wembley ... and her big verdict is in! Enjoy, enjoy. Congratulations to Chelsea, commiserations to Arsenal, and good evening to you all.
Gabby Logan has just made a magnificent Bachmann-Kirby Overdrive pun on the BBC. That knocks Gary Lineker’s wordplay into a cocked hat. It’s got to be worth some sort of award. Is there not a Pulitzer category for this sort of thing?
The prize-giving ceremony. Arsenal go up to collect their runner-up medals. Grim faces, understandably. And then it’s the turn of Chelsea, led by their captain Katie Chapman, who has now won this competition an astonishing ten times! The entire squad congregates. Chapman hoists the silverware, with the help of Maren Mjelde! These remarkable women celebrate, and Wembley erupts!
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Fran Kirby speaks! “We were disappointed that we let them get the goal, so luckily I managed to score straight after. I had a feeling that we were going to win. Individual awards were great, but the main ones are what you win with your team. That’s more important to me.”
The brilliant Bachmann, the official player of the match, is beside herself with joy. “It’s an amazing feeling. Every footballer dreams to one day play at Wembley, and to win feels amazing! I haven’t scored that much this year: it’s not important when you have Fran to your side, who scores all the time! It doesn’t matter who scores, though it was an amazing feeling to score in front of so many people!”
Chelsea race to their fans, in full-on Cavort Mode! They’ve won their club’s second FA Cup; Arsenal are stuck on 14. Ramona Bachmann scored two wonderful goals after the break; then Fran Kirby added a brilliant third, just when it looked as though Arsenal might hustle their way back into the match thanks to Vivianne Miedema’s strike. They were by far the better side today ... and they’re applauded by a deflated but sporting Arsenal.
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FULL TIME: Arsenal 1-3 Chelsea
Chelsea deservedly win the 2018 FA Women’s Cup! The Ramona Bachmann final. What a second-half performance!
90 min +4: Kirby, who has been quite superb this evening, second only to her team-mate Bachmann, dribbles to the corner and earns another time-management corner.
90 min +3: Chelsea pin Arsenal back in their final third. Time marches on.
90 min +2: Kirby slaloms in from the left, evading three challenges in ball-glued-to-boot style. That’s a showstopping display of skill. Shame about the following overhit pass to Cuthbert, who would have been free down the middle otherwise. Instead she’s pushed out to the right, where the attack fizzles out, not that it really matters now.
90 min +1: The resulting corner comes to nothing, as the first of five extra minutes elapses.
90 min: Aluko flashes down the right and sends a rising shot towards the top right. It’s a fine effort, tipped around the post in slightly uncertain fashion by van Veenendaal.
89 min: O’Reilly curls a ball into the Chelsea box from the right, but nobody in red can get anywhere near. Kirby goes up the other end, but over-elaborates with Aluko down the right. A highly entertaining second half is petering out. By way of illustration, on the BBC, Jonathan Pearce is riffing on vegetable soup.
87 min: It’s all scrappy. Chelsea are more than happy with this state of affairs. Arsenal can’t get anything going in attack, and time is not their friend.
85 min: Bachmann, the two-goal Chelsea hero, is replaced by Aluko. Cuthbert sends a screamer inches wide of the left-hand post from 25 yards.
84 min: A double switch for Arsenal, as Mitchell and Evans are replaced by Carter and McCabe.
82 min: Cuthbert runs hard at Mitchell, who has been targeted relentlessly by Chelsea down the right today. Cuthbert spins adroitly and breaks clear into the box, but the angle she faces is tight and she can’t find a team-mate with a cross.
80 min: O’Reilly scraps with Eriksson as she tries to make her way into the Chelsea box from the right. She tumbles to the ground and claims a penalty, but it looked like a 50-50 challenge that was outside the box anyway. The referee waves play on.
78 min: Arsenal look visibly deflated. No wonder, having fought their way back into the match. Kirby simply wasn’t having any of it. What a response!
GOAL! Arsenal 1-3 Chelsea (Kirby 76)
... Kirby comes again, picking up a pass from Blundell on the right. She cuts inside, nips past a flailing Quinn, and curls hard into the bottom left! Chelsea’s star has restored her team’s two goal lead within three minutes!
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76 min: Chelsea try to respond through Kirby, who dribbles hard down the inside-left channel. But Arsenal slam the door shut. Never mind, though, because ...
75 min: Spence, spent, is replaced by Cuthbert.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea (Miedema 73)
Mead dribbles brilliantly along the byline to the left of the Chelsea goal. She pulls the ball back for Miedema, who whips a first-time shot into the bottom right! That came out of nothing, and this isn’t over yet!
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72 min: Spence strips Nobbs in the centre circle and races towards the Arsenal box. For a second, this looks dangerous, but Spence seems to lose a little confidence as she nears the box, and instead of shooting - it would have been a glorious solo goal - she hesitates and loses possession.
71 min: A period of possession for Arsenal in the midfield. But there’s a sense that Chelsea are happy to let them have it. Arsenal aren’t doing anything to launch an attack.
70 min: Chelsea make their first swap. Andersson is replaced by Thorisdottir.
69 min: Bright strokes a glorious ball down the right to release Spence. But the flag goes up for offside, and Arsenal breathe again.
67 min: Kirby and Ji are close to opening up Arsenal down the left, but the final pass goes wrong. Arsenal look defeated at the moment. Can the 14-time winners find the extra gear they need to mount a comeback?
65 min: Today’s attendance at Wembley is a very impressive 45,423. That’s a record for a Women’s FA Cup final! This is a sport finally getting the credit and respect it deserves. Ramona Bachmann has delivered a performance to match.
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63 min: Arsenal make the first change of the evening. Janssen is replaced by the more attack-minded O’Reilly.
62 min: Williamson brings down Spence, to the left of the Arsenal box. Eriksson whips the free kick high and hard to the far post. Mjelde rises and plants a header towards the top right. Van Veenendaal claims well. Arsenal are seriously rocking here.
GOAL! Arsenal 0-2 Chelsea (Bachmann 60)
This is sensational. Bachmann, floating on air, drops a shoulder to lay waste Mitchell down the right. She regally enters the box, and curls towards the top left. The ball takes a deflection off Quinn en route to the corner, but take nothing away from the run and shot. The Matthews cup final ... the Gerrard cup final ... the Bachmann cup final.
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59 min: Space for Spence down the right. She hooks into the Chelsea box, looking for Kirby, but Williamson clears. This is a crucial period for Arsenal: another goal for Chelsea now, and cup number 15 might begin to look like a pipe dream.
58 min: Bachmann looks positively buoyed by her goal. She floats down the right imperiously, exchanging passes with Kirby and nearly breaking into the Arsenal box. Not quite this time.
56 min: A burst of quality here, though, as Little dribbles down the inside-right channel before slipping a pass inside for Miedema. She’s got time and space, but opts not to hit with her left, checking inside instead. Chapman slides in and blocks the danger. For the first time in the match, Chelsea looked seriously open at the back there.
54 min: Chapman swings one in from the right, forcing Arsenal to concede a corner. The set piece doesn’t lead to much. The game’s got a little scrappy since the goal, with both teams reassessing their positions. A lot of loose passes.
53 min: Chapman and van de Donk get involved in a shoving match out on the Chelsea right. Chapman’s boot looked a bit high, and Mitchell gets involved as well. It’s all something and nothing, and tempers soon cool.
52 min: But Arsenal aren’t taking this lying down. Mead works herself a little space down the inside-right channel, and gets her side’s first shot on target. Low and hard, towards the bottom right. Lindahl saves, but makes a meal of it, forcing Bright to knock the rebound out for a corner. The set piece is easily dealt with by Chelsea, but that’s much better from Arsenal.
50 min: It’s fair to say Chelsea have upped the tempo, then. Kirby and Bachmann have been buzzing relentlessly since the restart.
GOAL! Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea (Bachmann 48)
This is a brilliant goal! Ji, deep on the right, slips a ball inside for Bachmann, who one-twos crisply with Kirby and enters the box. Then she pearls an unstoppable rising shot into the top-right corner. What a finish! Van Veenendaal got a fingertip to it, but could do nothing to stop the shot, such was its vicious power. That’s some finish!
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47 min: Bachmann slides a pass down the middle of the park, to see if Kirby can beat Mitchell in a foot race. Mitchell wins that one, and she had to because Arsenal were light at the back.
And we’re off again! Arsenal get the ball rolling once more. There have been no half-time substitutions. According to Karen Carney, Chelsea’s injured winger, the Blues have been told in no uncertain terms to up the tempo. Let’s see.
Half-time scores: Away from Wembley, Everton and Southampton are playing in the men’s Premier League. That game’s goalless at the break too, but those desirous of more detail could do worse than clicking here:
HALF TIME: Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea
The pre-match favourites Chelsea have been the better side. But van Veenendaal hasn’t had too much serious work to do. Both sides will be relatively content, if not deliriously happy.
44 min: Ji has woken up, though. The hero of 2015 sends a rasping shot inches over the bar from 20 yards, having been set up by Bachmann.
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43 min: Ji batters the free kick witlessly into the wall. She picks up the rebound, and her second attempt is much better, a curler towards the bottom right. But there’s no pace on the shot, and van Veenendaal is able to smother it easily enough.
42 min: Kirby jolts the game into life with the bolt of electricity it surely needs. She embarks on a George Best-style left-to-right dribble, at great speed. She nearly breaks into the box, but is forced to check and lay off to Ji. Chelsea suddenly appear to be going nowhere, so it’s pretty daft of Janssen to clatter into Ji. Free kick, just to the right of the D, and a booking for the Arsenal midfielder.
40 min: Williamson tries to release Nobbs down the right, but that long pass flies out for a goal kick too. The teams are beginning to cancel each other out.
38 min: Bright, sitting deep on the right, looks to release Kirby down the left with a quarterback rake. Too far. Goal kick. “Is BBC commentator Jonathan Pearce always as bad as this?” wonders Charles Antaki. “This is not so much a description of the game as a series of ruminations about his travel arrangements, the amusing idiosyncrasies of his fellow-commentator, and, occasionally, a meditation on a player’s history touched off by something that has actually happened on the pitch.” He’s just spent a couple of minutes reminiscing about a visit to Wembley for a Schoolboy international during the early 1970s. I quite like meandering jazz pieces like that, but each to their own I guess.
36 min: See 34 min. Arsenal are struggling to hold onto possession and offering next to nothing in attack. Chelsea are hogging the ball ... and offering next to nothing in attack. It’s a very strange way for the game to have suddenly settled, given the entertaining opening exchanges.
34 min: More Chelsea dominance in the middle of the park. Still nothing much doing up front. The game has settled into a pattern of defence versus sort-of-attack.
32 min: Chelsea continue to dominate the midfield. But they’ve yet to make van Veenendaal work. Chapman drives down the left then pulls back for Kirby, who nearly executes a cute one-two with Blundell. If the return pass had been any good, Kirby would have been one on one with the Arsenal keeper. But van Veenendaal remains untested.
30 min: Chelsea knock it around the middle of the park awhile, then burst quickly down the right. Blundell races into space, and floats what momentarily looks like a dangerous cross into the middle, but eventually settles on the roof of the net.
28 min: A brief pause followed by a slight lull, the result of Spence having taken a whack. She’s good to continue. The crowd entertain themselves with a Mexican wave. Hey, if it was good enough for the Azteca locals at the 1986 World Cup, it’s good enough for us.
26 min: Kirby dances down the inside-left channel and smacks goalwards from the edge of the box. It’s another fantastic run, with the Arsenal back line retreating in panic and confusion, but the shot’s straight at van Veenendaal, who snaffles.
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25 min: Eriksson hoicks it long. Bright tries to rise at the far post, but the delivery is overcooked. Goal kick.
24 min: Bachmann goes into overdrive down the right. She’s cynically tugged back by Mitchell, who really should be booked. Two hands pulling away at her arm! But the referee stops at a stern talking-to. Lucky Mitchell. But it’s a free kick in a very dangerous position, to the right of the Arsenal box.
22 min: ... and Chelsea finally clear their lines. This is a good response by Arsenal to that period of Chelsea pressure. This looks to be a nicely balanced final: both teams have had their chances to open the scoring.
21 min: ... Arsenal nearly score. Cutting in from the left, Miedema jinks her way past Spence and looks for the top right. The ball’s deflected off Blundell and threatens to fly into the top left. Not quite: another corner. And Chelsea can’t get out. A third corner comes along soon enough ...
20 min: Nobbs races down the right into space. Her cross doesn’t find a team-mate, but Little picks up possession on the other flank, cuts inside, and nearly floats a cross onto Miedema’s head. It’s eyebrowed out for a corner, from which ...
19 min: The first lull of the match. The players have earned it: it’s been a high-octane start.
17 min: This is very open, and there’s a sense that a goal might be along sooner rather than later. It nearly comes here, as Andersson curls a ball into the Arsenal box from the left. Nobody in red deals with it, allowing Kirby to take it down, 12 yards out, a little to the right. Kirby drops a shoulder to shift the ball left, but can’t get a shot away as Arsenal finally close her down. That’s a good chance to bother van Veenendaal spurned.
16 min: A free kick for Arsenal wide on the left. Nobbs floats it diagonally into the mixer. Quinn rises highest at the far post, but can’t keep her header on target. It flies harmlessly over.
14 min: Bright makes a misjudgement under a long pass down the Arsenal left and allows Mead to skitter down the flank. Fortunately for Chelsea, Mjelde comes across to cover and put a stop to Mead’s gallop.
13 min: Mitchell looks much more confident in attack. She powers up the left and drifts inside, but that thin Chelsea blue line is strung across the pitch, and there’s nobody in red offering themselves. No pass on, she’s forced to turn back. But if nothing else, it’s a release from that period of Chelsea pressure.
11 min: Chelsea are beginning to push Arsenal back. Kirby has another run down the left, though she can’t quite make it through the back line. Never mind, she has another go, chasing after a long ball down the same flank. Williamson should get to it first, but Kirby is persistent ... and very fast. She nips in ahead, but can’t quite sort her feet out to shoot, and Williamson recovers to usher her away.
9 min: Ki slips a pass down the inside-right channel for Bachmann, who spins around Mitchell and breaks free into the box. She’s one on one with van Veenendaal, albeit facing a tight angle, and drags her shot across the face of goal and out for a goal kick. What a turn, though! That sent Mitchell spinning.
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8 min: The in-form Kirby goes on a Garrinchaesque run down the inside-left channel. She makes it into the Arsenal area but finds herself surrounded by red shirts. She attempts to shoot through the thicket of players but the ball balloons out for a corner, which comes to nothing. The first sight of Kirby in full flight. It’ll give Arsenal pause.
7 min: Miedema gegenpresses Blundell and very nearly exposes Chelsea down the left. The final ball’s again lacking as Chelsea, playing five across the back, regroup quickly enough.
5 min: Spence probes down the Chelsea left a couple of times. Once again, a busy run ends with a cross that flies straight to the opposition. But both teams have come out of the blocks with attacking intent. It’s been a brisk start to the final.
3 min: Mead zips down the Arsenal left with extreme prejudice. She turns Blundell and Bright this way and that, and enters the box, a dexterous and determined dribble. But her cross inside is aimless and hacked clear by Chelsea.
And we’re off! Chelsea get the party started. A huge roar as the match gets underway. Chelsea stroke it about the back for a while, then Bright launches it forward. Arsenal return it quickly; Bright knocks it out of play with Miedema and Mead buzzing around. A busy but undramatic start for the Chelsea defender.
The teams are out! Arsenal are in their famous red shirts with white sleeves, while Chelsea play in their storied blue. A cracking atmosphere at Wembley as the pre-match pleasantries take place. Plenty of wide smiles as the excitement ratchets up. The heavily pregnant Emma Hayes has asked her assistant Paul Green to lead the team out, while she sits on the bench. Green sports an orange rose, grown in Hayes’ own garden. All of her players were gifted one today, as a gesture of love and solidarity. Arsenal have some nice red ones going on, so everyone’s happy. Time for motivational huddles. “I’ve really become a tremendous fan of women’s football, particularly after reading Carrie Dunn’s fine book The Roar of the Lionesses,” writes Hubert O’Hearn, who can speak for me on this subject. “Anyone who finds the men jaded, a bit spoiled or so forth should read Carrie’s book. All athletes everywhere say that they compete for the love of the game. The women footballers really mean it. Very, very few of their associated men’s clubs (Arsenal and Chelsea being two exceptions) treat their women’s sides at all well. I applaud these players’ devotion, skill and attitude. Let’s hope for a cracking great final!” Yep. And anyone yet to read Carrie’s superb book should get on it immediately, if not sooner. Anyway, we’ll be off in a minute!
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Arsenal boss Joe Montemurro talks! “Obviously our tradition as cup specialists is there - thanks for the pressure! - but cup finals are cup finals, and it’s on the day. We’ve been part of many fantastic events, and hopefully this is another one. Chelsea are a very good side, with cover and power all over the pitch, and whatever starting XI they put out is very strong. Some of the best players in the world are out there on show, and it’s going to be an amazing event.”
Chelsea manager Emma Hayes - expecting twins this month, so she won’t be leading her team out - speaks! “This is what we work hard for, when you’re freezing cold in January and you don’t want to come out training. I’m proud of the players, and equally to think we’re playing in front of a record crowd, which importantly shows the growth of the game. Our side is experienced and accustomed to high-level games on a regular basis, both internationally and at club level. But it counts for nothing in a single game. It’s whoever shows up on the day.”
Arsenal have a couple of erstwhile final goalscorers in their ranks too. Jordan Nobbs found the net in their 2013 victory over Bristol Academy, and is the heartbeat of the side today. Danielle Carter scored the winner against Chelsea three years later, though she’s only on the bench this afternoon, with Vivianne Miedema and Beth Mead getting the nod up front.
Anyway, here we are 12 months down the line, and Chelsea build their midfield around Katie Chapman, who is making her 11th appearance in an FA Cup final. She’s alongside the South Korean international Ji So-yun, who scored the winner in the 2015 final against Notts County.
For those of you who need reminding, here’s what happened this time last year. The 2017 final between Manchester City and Birmingham City was highly memorable - the Citizens became the first club to hold all of English football’s major trophies, the WSL, League Cup and FA Cup, at the same time - if not particularly dramatic. The game was as good as over after 32 minutes, thanks in no small part to the force of nature that is Lucy Bronze. She was outstanding. You can relive how Bronze and Manchester City stormed Wembley here:
A 40,000-plus crowd is expected at Wembley this afternoon, while the game is the subject of a live telecast on the British Broadcasting Corporation’s flagship channel, BBC One. This is arguably the highest profile the Women’s FA Cup final has had to date, and the big game has been previewed by our own Louise Taylor:
The teams
Arsenal: Van Veenendaal, Evans, Williamson, Quinn, Mitchell, Janssen, Van de Donk, Little, Nobbs, Mead, Miedema.
Subs: Moorhouse, Samuelsson, McCabe, O’Reilly, Carter.
Chelsea: Lindahl, Bright, Mjelde, Eriksson, Blundell, Ji, Chapman, Andersson, Spence, Kirby, Bachmann.
Subs: Telford, Thorisdottir, Flaherty, Aluko, Cuthbert.
Referee: Lindsey Robinson (Durham).
Preamble
Arsenal are synonymous with the Women’s FA Cup. More so than Southampton, who monopolised the tournament during its Seventies infancy; more so than Doncaster Belles, who took over as stars of the show in the Eighties. The Gunners only won their first FA Cup in 1993, but since then it’s been total domination: to date, they’ve lifted the trophy 14 times. Take a look at the roll of honour!
14: Arsenal
8: Southampton
6: Doncaster Belles
2: Everton, Croydon, Fulham, Millwall
1: Fodens, QPR, St Helens, Lowestoft, Howbury Grange, Friends of Fulham, Norwich, Charlton Athletic, Birmingham City, Chelsea, Manchester City
They’re not favourites today, though. Chelsea might have just the one FA Cup to their name - a Ji So-Yun inspired triumph over Notts County in 2015 - but they’re the team of the moment. They’re the winners of last year’s Spring Series; neck and neck with Manchester City at the top of WSL1 at the moment; and knocked out City, last year’s winners, in the semis, Fran Kirby the two-goal hero.
As well as Kirby - 22 goals in 31 matches this season! - Chelsea can also call on someone who is fairly synonymous with this competition herself. Their 35-year-old captain Katie Chapman has won this trophy nine times already: once with Millwall (as a 14-year-old), twice with Fulham, another time with Charlton, four times with Arsenal, and finally once with her current club. Ashley Cole and Arsene Wenger, seven-time winners with the men, have nothing on this.
Arsenal will counter all this by pointing to ... Vivianne Miedema’s upsetting of Manchester City in the recent League Cup final; the sheer quality of Jordan Nobbs, England’s star midfielder in last year’s Euros; and the small fact of their 2016 final win against Chelsea, Danielle Carter doing the business back then.
So this is set up delightfully, not least because it’s a huge London derby. Last year’s final was memorable enough - Manchester City swatting aside Birmingham City, with Keira Walsh, Carli Lloyd and especially Lucy Bronze nothing short of sensational - though drama was in short supply. This one could be more of a nerve-jangler, a fingernail-botherer, an in-the-balance classic. Here’s hoping, anyway. It’s Chelsea and Arsenal! It’s English football’s showpiece! It’s on!
Kick off: 5.30pm BST.
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