Arsenal vs Chelsea: 5 factors that will decide who wins the FA Cup final
After an extremely demanding few months, the English domestic season concludes with the FA Cup final on 27 May at the famous Wembley Stadium. 736 teams entered the tournament last year and it has now come down to the final two – London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea.
Both teams have had contrasting campaigns. Chelsea under new boss Antonio Conte cantered to the Premier League title while Arsene Wenger’s side finished fifth and failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years. Against each other, though, both teams won at home in convincing fashion.
But league form goes out the window when it’s a cup final where anything can happen. Can the Gunners win a 13th FA Cup and set a new record or will the Blues win their first FA Cup since 2012? We look at five factors that could decide the result.
1) Arsenal’s centre-back crisis
As ridiculous as it sounds, the FA Cup final has come at the wrong time for Arsenal. Their Premier League campaign ended with the loss of three centre-backs in the final two games of the season.
Firstly, they will be without their stand-in captain Laurent Koscielny. The French centre-back was sent off in the final game against Everton at the Emirates when he lunged in recklessly on Enner Valencia.
The club appealed the decision but the FA confirmed that Koscielny would serve the suspension, effectively ending his season when he should have been leading the team out at Wembley. Soon after, Gabriel had to be stretchered off with a serious knee injury that will keep him out of action at least until the squad returns for 2017/18 pre-season preparations.
To make matters worse, Shkodran Mustafi has still not been cleared for action after a blow to his head in the previous game ruled him out of the Everton game. The club may play him if he is deemed fit but concussion protocols will take precedence before a player’s safety is put at risk.
This leaves only Per Mertesacker and Rob Holding as the available centre-backs. Although Holding has impressed in the latter stages of the season, the final would be Mertesacker’s first start of the season!