And that’s your lot. Thanks very much for reading, and we’ll meet again some sunny day, I’m sure.
Arsenal captain Alex Scott leads her team up the steps at Wembley, where Vic Akers is in the Royal Box (is it the Royal Box these days?) to welcome them. Scott lifts the trophy along with Kelly Smith, but not before carefully removing the lid. That could’ve caused someone some damage if it’d fallen off and into the crowd.
That’s 14 FA Cups for Arsenal, and quite the achievement considering their poor league form so far this season.
Here’s the goal - hell of a strike, you’ll probably agree...
Danielle Carter gives @ArsenalLadies the lead in the Women's FA Cup final against Chelsea with a cracking strike pic.twitter.com/fjlUWtNznr
— Terje (@ArsenalTerje) May 14, 2016
They didn’t make enough of their dominance and things got a little nervy towards the end, but Arsenal fully deserved their victory. Carter and Losada were both excellent, while the Chelsea defence were absolutely terrified of Oshoala’s pace, Borges in particular. It was a curious non-performance from Chelsea, who were dominated more or less from the off, and only got their collective arses into gear by injury-time.
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ARSENAL WIN THE WOMEN'S FA CUP!
Full-time: Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
90 mins + 3: Davison gets down the right again and forces a corner. That’s half-cleared, the the second cross by Aluko finds Fahey at the far post, but she can’t direct it at goal. Chelsea have finally figured out they need to start playing, but it’s surely too late now.
90 mins + 2: Almost an entirely slapstick ending, as Van Veenendaal clears...straight into Kirby, but luckily for the Arsenal keeper it flies out to the left, rather than over her head and into the net.
90 mins + 1: Chelsea appear to be belatedly waking up - Davison makes a driving run into the box, cuts onto her left foot and shoots. It’s blocked, then falls to Kirby who volleys towards goal, but it goes just wide.
90 mins: Last chances for Chelsea - Borges crosses over from the left, but it goes nowhere near the forwards in the box and goes straight through to the keeper. Four minutes of stoppage time to come.
88 mins: A final change - Oshoala goes off, and Leah Williamson comes on. Oshoala takes her sweet time trudging off the pitch, she’s told to hurry first by the ref, then by Katie Chapman, the latter intervention having the slightly counter-productive effect of actually slowing her down while the two players argue.
86 mins: Oshoala tries to get into the area from the right again, but seems to be taken out fairly cynically by Flaherty...a challenge that is bafflingly left unpunished.
84 mins: Beth England is straight into the book for a heavy challenge in midfield. Sue Smith on co-comms says you sometimes get ‘over-aroused’ when you come on as sub late in the game. Crikey.
83 mins: A record crowd inside Wembley, despite the ticketing ‘issues’...
Great attendance @wembleystadium #SSEWomensFACup pic.twitter.com/hhriEwCEAn
— Women in Football (@WomeninFootball) May 14, 2016
81 mins: Another episode in the Oshoala v Borges files: this time it’s the Chelsea defender who gets forwards, and Oshoala hacks her to the ground with little subtlety. Yellow card for the Arsenal winger.
79 mins: Arsenal attack down the right with Carter, who twists and turns and evades Blundell, but her shot (with Van de Donk and Oshoala in space to her right) is blocked, and a belated attempt at a pass goes astray.
78 mins: Sub for Chelsea - Bright is off, and Bethany England is on.
77 mins: Nice work by the sub Van de Donk, who skips around a challenge, cuts it back to Losada who clips a cross towards the back stick. That’s slightly mishit, and Lindahl has to scrabble to paw the thing away.
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76 mins: Hey, look at that: Oshoala runs down the right and Borges actually manages to tackle her. Mercy be.
74 mins: After some treatment, Van Veenendaal is back on her feet. A double substitution for Arsenal though - Smith and Williams are off, replaced by Dominique Janssen and Danielle van de Donk.
72 mins: Problem for Arsenal now, as keeper Van Veenendaal has gone down clutching her knee. Wasn’t immediately apparent what happened, but she looks in some bother.
70 mins: Ji has been very quiet, but she has a brilliant chance to equalise: a corner comes over from the right, it’s not properly cleared and falls to Ji in plenty of space, around 12 yards out to the left of centre, but she hits the half volley wide and over. Not great, that.
69 mins: Chelsea have certainly looked more threatening since Aluko’s introduction. She gets down the right side of the box, has a crossing chance but Stoney does superbly to block it out for a corner.
66 mins: Losada has been excellent for Arsenal. She’s made more and more forward runs as the game has progressed, and you get the feeling that if she’d been on the end of a couple of their chances they might be more than the one up.
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64 mins: Drama as the lino on the Arsenal right requires a new flag. Not sure what happened to the old one, but it’s currently lying rather forlornly on the grass.
63 mins: Corner for Arsenal on the left. Williams curls it in, Henning rises at the back post and has a free-ish header, but it goes wide. Another good chance for them though. They really need to take one of these at some stage.
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62 mins: Another huge chance for Arsenal - Smith slides an inch-perfect ball through for Oshoala, who takes a heavy second touch then scuffs a shot with Lindahl looming. They genuinely could/should be four or five up.
61 mins: Aluko tries to replicate Carter’s goal from the first half, cutting in from the left and aiming for the top corner with a right-footed curler, but it goes some way wide.
60 mins: Again a nice ball down the right, over the top causes problems for Chelsea, and Lindahl again has to race out of her goal to mop things up.
58 mins: Borges gives the ball away carelessly in her own half - she’s been poor so far, and it’s little wonder Arsenal seem to be targeting her.
56 mins: Another Arsenal attack down the right - Losada slides the ball down the channel looking for Oshoala, but Chapman just gets there in time to intercept and clear.
55 mins: Here’s Aluko - she replaces Karen Carney.
54 mins: Chelsea currently trying to just calm things down a bit and keep possession of the ball for a while. But it’s not easy, given how much Arsenal are pressing them in all areas of the pitch.
51 mins: Smith is lucky to escape a booking as she chops down Blundell on the Chelsea right. Looks like Eni Aluko is about to come on for Chelsea.
50 mins: Another chance for Arsenal - this time Carter finds herself free, in on goal down the left, and while her shot isn’t especially powerful it does nearly flummox Lindahl, who looked like she was expecting a cross, and throws up a leg to save.
49 mins: Arsenal’s plan isn’t subtle, but it’s working - again they feed Oshoala on the right, and while she can’t do much with it this time, it’s clear she has Borges on toast.
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47 mins: More pressure from Arsenal, and more threat from Oshoala. Firstly she absolutely rinses Borges with her pace, but her shot is straight at the keeper. Then a few moments later she produces a lovely piece of skill to again get down the right, Fahey slips as she blocks the first cross, but the second ball in finds Losada, whose header hits the bar. The offside flag had gone up, but there were some massive holes cut in the Chelsea defence there.
46 mins: We’re off again, and Arsenal are straight on the attack. Williams has a free-kick out on the right with a chance to swing the cross over, but it goes straight to Lindahl.
And we’re back out for the second half - one substitution, and Niamh Fahey is on, but for Drew Spence rather than Flaherty, who was injured in the first-half. Bright will move into midfield, which seems like a shrewd move by Emma Hayes.
Arsenal should probably be much further ahead than just the one goal, such has been their dominance. Other than that Fran Kirby effort when she dithered like she was indecisively hovering over the pie or the lasagne on a buffet, Chelsea haven’t created a huge amount and have looked iffy at the back.
Half-time: Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
45 mins: Williams tries a big booming crossfield pass, looking for Oshoala out on the right, but the pass is too strong and goes out for a goal kick. One minute of added time.
44 mins: “I’m not used to Jonathan Pearce’s stye of commentating,” writes Charles Antaki. “A sort of low, urgent mumbling with, who you tune into it, seems to be a meditation on various players’ career histories. Fortunately something important on the pitch will wake him up; but not always.”
43 mins: Carter shoots from outside the area, but while she makes Lindahl work, it wasn’t the most powerful effort.
Jonathan Pearce update: no wet wipes talk yet. Assume he’s saving it for the second half.
42 mins: Arsenal should be two up - Williams fees Smith on the edge of the box, who turns brilliantly to create some space. She slips it through to Oshoala, but she scuffs the shot and it’s easily cleared.
Updated
40 mins: Flaherty is back on, but not exactly moving freely.
39 mins: Problems for Chelsea - Flaherty is down in their box, which given she’s their only specialist centre-back on the pitch could be an issue. Looks like it’s an ankle problem, possibly suffered in a challenge with Williams. Niamh Fahey is on the bench, but she’s been out for a while and might not be 100% fit.
37 mins: Half chance for Chelsea - Carney makes tracks towards the byline, she cuts it back aiming for Kirby but it goes behind the forward and falls into the path of Spence on the edge of the area, but she shoots aiming for a postage stamp of a top corner, and it goes over.
35 mins: Arsenal could do with scoring another goal here. The Gunners, dominating a game but not scoring the goals that quite represent that superiority. Familiar...
34 mins: More danger from Oshoala - a long ball over the top nearly finds the forward, but Lindahl dashes out of her area and just gets her body in the way of the ball first. Dangerous, but shows that the keeper felt it necessary to mop up behind her defence, recognising the danger.
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32 mins: More access problems at Wembley...
Arrived in loads of time, this is when I got into #WomensFACupFinal at Wembley. Won't happen at the men's. Weak @fa pic.twitter.com/lvr71KgG1g
— Wild Beasts (@WildBeasts) May 14, 2016
30 mins: Arsenal causing most problems down the flanks - both flanks, as Oshoala jabs the ball past Flaherty and almost gets the cross over, but she can’t quite. Wonder whether Hayes might think about bringing Claire Rafferty on at some stage to help out down that side.
28 mins: Chelsea just carving out the odd chance now. Davison gets down the right side of the box and squares to Ji, just inside the area and with a bit more space than she should have, but her snap shot goes over the bar.
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27 mins: Emma Hayes looks fairly exasperated on the bench: because her players aren’t carrying out her orders, or just because Arsenal are better? Or perhaps she’s just remembered she’s left her car unlocked.
24 mins: “Am I missing something here?” asks Hubert O’Hearn on the queues of people waiting outside issue. “Spurs v, United has a kickoff delayed for half an hour because a coach has a cracked iwindow. Thousands of fans lined up to get into Wembley - the game must start as announced! Who do we blame for this? The FA? The BBC? Let’s blame Jose Mourinho! Probably not his fault, but it’s fun to blame him anyway.”
22 mins: More nice stuff from Arsenal, as Oshoala breaks down the right, plays inside to Losada who tries to find Smith with a delightful backheel, but Chapman got there just in time to clear.
20 mins: Chelsea have a chance to immediately get level as Blundell slips the ball down the right for Kirby, who is through on goal but almost has too much time (to quote Andy Townsend) dithers rather and attempts to nutmeg keeper Van Veenendaal, but she kicks the ball away. A curious choice from Kirby with half the goal available if she’d shot across goal.
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18 mins: Arsenal take the lead, and what a goal it is. It’s Carter again, cutting in from the right and twisting Blundell’s blood, before opening her body and curling a beautiful shot into the top corner, beyond a grasping Lindahl. A brilliant start for the Gunners is rewarded.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea (Carter 18)
What a strike!
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15 mins: Carter again provides some danger from the left, cutting in on her right foot, but Blundell does well to ease her out and smartly wins a goal kick by smacking the ball against the Arsenal forward.
12 mins: ....she drives...but sand-wedges the thing and it rises, rises, rises over the bar.
The Guardian’s Alan Smith, at Wembley, writes with news that apparently only the east ticket office was opened at the ground, perhaps explaining those queues. Not so good.
11 mins: Another corner for Arsenal, which is only half-cleared and Flaherty concedes a free-kick on the edge of the box for a high foot. Williams is lining it up...
10 mins: Bright, playing out of position at centre-half, puts in a reducer on Kelly Smith as the Arsenal forward tried to make space through the middle. A shudderer, that one, but fair.
8 mins: Carter, who looks lively so far, cuts in from the left and knocks the ball past Bright, but overruns it slightly and Flaherty mops things up.
7 mins: Jonathan Pearce update: no talk of wet wipes so far.
5 mins: Carney slips what looks like a perfectly-timed ball down the left channel for the run of Fran Kirby, but the lino’s flag goes up. And, according to the replays, did so incorrectly. Unlucky for Chelsea that, because the miniature Kirby would have been clean through on goal there.
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3 mins: Arsenal have a corner from the left, which Fara Williams swings over but it’s cleared. All Arsenal in these nascent stages of the game.
2 mins: Well this isn’t ideal...
@JacquiOatley loads of fans Queuing to get tickets most will miss first half. Most will miss v half. #poor #Wembley pic.twitter.com/h5h2iwQkV6
— Siobhán Allen (@siobhanieallen) May 14, 2016
1 min: Arsenal go straight on the attack, and Millie Bright is pressed into an error straight away. The ball falls to Dan Carter about 30 yards from goal, she tries a looping shot but it drops just over the bar.
Coins have been tossed, hands been shaken. Arsenal will kick off...
During a game at the World Cup, commentator Jonathan Pearce went on about wet wipes and the price thereof in Canada. Which was weird, to say the least. He’s on again today, so let’s hope for some more of that.
Arsenal skiopper Alex Scott looks relaxed. That said, most of the players appear fairly at ease. That’s what happens when you stuff a couple of teams with internationals, I guess.
The BBC have just shown good luck messages from Aaron Ramsey and Guus Hiddink. So now the two teams have the required validation from two men, we can begin.
It is, to say the least, loud out there...
Convinced whoever is in charge of the PA system at Wembley has a secret deal with a hearing aid company
— Alan Smith (@alansmith90) May 14, 2016
That Chelsea team looks...well, you’d be nervous if you were an Arsenal fan. Eni Aluko and Claire Rafferty have been stalwarts of the England side in the last few years, and they can afford to leave those two on the bench. Eeesh.
Wembley Way looks teeming. 50,000 or so are expected there today. They won’t be having quite so much fun when they’re trying to get on the tube after the final whistle.
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Team news
Arsenal
Van Veenendaal; Scott, Mitchell, Henning, Stoney; Losada, Williams, Nobbs; Carter, Oshoala, Smith. Subs: Byrne, Sanchon, Janssen, Van de Donk, Williamson.
Chelsea
Lindahl; Blundell, Flaherty, Bright, Borges; Chapman, Spence; Ji; Davison, Carney, Kirby. Subs: Spencer, Fahey, Aluko, Rafferty, England.
Referee: Sarah Garratt
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Preamble
Emma Hayes is an ambitious woman. The Chelsea manager takes her side into the FA Cup semi-final today looking to pull off the first leg of a double double, after winning both this competition and the WSL last season. The defence of their league title has started pretty well, winning their first four games, so now attention turns to Arsenal, Wembley and possibly beyond. “I’ve reminded them: being a first-time winner is one thing,” Hayes told Carrie Dunn on Yahoo this week. “To become a serial winner – now that’s something special.
“This does feel like we’re coming home, and that this is our trophy, and that we are the dominant team in the country - and we certainly won’t give it up without a huge fight. We appreciate that we’re favourites, we accept that tag, and personally - I’ll speak on behalf of the team - we are quite happy to be put under pressure.”
Confident talk. This is probably the final the marketing bods would have wanted: a local(ish) derby, two of the strongest teams in the game and some of the most recognisable players, too. One of which is of course Fara Williams, England’s record cap-holder who moved from Liverpool to Arsenal this summer.
“Chelsea are Double winners from last year but Arsenal are used to big games and are used to cup finals,” Williams told Sachin Nakrani on these here pages. “Arsenal have always won trophies and the fact of the matter is now we need to win trophies again and the FA Cup is a big one on a big stage. Hopefully we’ll get the result and can push on in the league.”
Hopefully this will be a rather better encounter than last year’s non-event, when Chelsea strolled to victory over a Notts County side that didn’t really turn up on the day. It should be much better. Actually, let’s guarantee it - it will be much better. Promise. Or your money back.
Kick-off: 2pm BST
Nick will be here shortly. Meanwhile, read Sachin Nakrani’s interview with Fara Williams and making the move from Liverpool to Arsenal:
I’ve struggled with the move away to be honest,” she says. “I try to go back as much as I can. I miss Liverpool, my house is still there and I didn’t want to leave but I knew for football reasons I had to. At the time they were in transition and I’m a player that needs to be at the top level. I want to go to the Euros next year and I knew Arsenal were bringing in some fantastic players who would make them even more competitive, so [switching clubs] was justified. We’re in a cup final and I’m training harder because I’m with better players.”
