For the third consecutive year in a row, Manchester United Women will make the trip down to the capital as they take on Chelsea in the Women’s FA Cup Final at Wembley on Sunday afternoon. The Red Devils are hoping to achieve back-to-back FA Cups, whilst our opponents are looking to do a domestic treble.
In terms of our league campaign, United finished 16 points behind Chelsea. However, we were pleased with our third-place finish that secured our Champions League qualification for next season at the expense of our neighbours Manchester City. A slight concern was that we did not win any of our final four league games, with a 4-3 defeat to Arsenal last weekend on the final day of the season. Our form has not been the best of late, with our last win coming in the semi-finals of the FA Cup last month where we defeated Manchester City 2-0. They had beaten Sunderland, Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion in the previous rounds of the competition.
Marc Skinner’s side will be looking forward to making a third appearance in the showpiece event after clinching our first major trophy in last season’s final. Goals from Ella Toone, Rachel Williams and Lucia Garcia secured an impressive 4-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur. It will prove to be a much sterner test this time round against a side that has won the FA Cup three out of the last four occasions.
United have only won one of their fifteen competitive games against the Blues. There only victory came last season in the FA Cup semi-finals when we recorded a 2-1 win at Leigh Sports Village to reach the final at Wembley.
Manchester United Women Team News
For United, they will be without defender Jayde Riviere as she has failed in her recovery from an ankle injury to make the showpiece final. This will see Aoife Mannion return to the matchday squad, having missed the final league game of the season through suspension. Striker Rachel Williams is hoping to be fit in time for the final, having not featured in the last three matches.
Manchester United Women Predicted Lineup
Tullis-Joyce;
Le Tissier, Janssen, Turner, George;
Miyazawa, Clinton;
Bizet, Toone, Galton;
Terland.
Opposition Preview
For Chelsea, there is the possibility to clinch a domestic treble at Wembley on Sunday in Sonia Bompastor’s first season in charge at the club. They have won the Women’s Super League and League Cup this season. The Blues secured their sixth consecutive league title with a 1-0 win over United last month.
It would be the same scoreline in their final two league games against Tottenham and Liverpool to go unbeaten in the WSL season, and also become the first club to do this on two separate occasions, having done so previously in the 2017/18 season. They finished the league campaign with 19 wins and three draws with their attention now being drawn to winning a sixth FA Cup. The Blues reached the final by overcoming Charlton Athletic, Everton, Crystal Palace and Liverpool in previous rounds of the competition.
It will be a repeat of the 2023 FA Cup Final, where Chelsea secured it for the fifth time in their history with Sam Kerr’s strike proving the only goal in their 1-0 victory over United. They will be confident heading into the final as they have won 11 of the previous 12 competitive games against the Reds, keeping five sheets in the five of those last six games.
Chelsea Women Team News
The opposition will be unable to call upon Sam Kerr, Sophie Ingle, Femke Liefting, Zecira Musovic and Kadeisha Buchanan due to injuries and pregnancy. Sonia Bompastor has also confirmed that Lauren James remains out with a hamstring injury that has seen her miss the last several games. Maya Ramirez could be back in contention to play in the final after recovering from a knee injury.
Form Guide
Manchester United Women form (all competitions): WDLDL
Chelsea Women form (all competitions): WLWWW
Prediction
It is a tough one to call, but United know they are more than capable of taking the game to Chelsea, as was evident in our league meeting at the end of last month. On that occasion, we just did not take the chances we created for ourselves. Hopefully, it will be a much different outcome at Wembley on Sunday afternoon and the Red Devils can return to Manchester as back-to-back to FA Cup winners.
Manchester United Women 2-1 Chelsea Women