In a single extraordinary weekend, Chelsea’s men AND women reached their respective FA Cup finals, setting up a double helping of top-drawer football next month.
Both won their semis 2-0 – the women defeating Arsenal on their manor in the early afternoon last Sunday, and the men despatching Crystal Palace at Wembley a couple of hours later.
Emma Hayes managed to be both delighted and frustrated following the Boreham Wood victory, where second-half goals from Guro Reiten and Ji So-Yun ensured the Blues progressed past the Gunners to tee up a final against Manchester City.
There were one or two close calls, notably in the opening minutes, when Arsenal threatened to overwhelm the Chelsea defence... but Aniek Nouwen, the Dutch defender, stood firm against her fellow Netherlands star Viv Miedema.
“I thought we were horrific for the first 20 minutes,” said Hayes, blaming player dislocation following their recent international commitments.
“The goal came in the first minutes of the second half, which was the right time [for us],” she said, adding that another clean sheet had given her the most satisfaction. “Defensively we were solid, and we wanted to go back to Wembley.”
Hayes said that she thought continuity was the key to this season’s solidity, and may yet play a part in the final run-in to give Chelsea the league title too.
The Blues haven’t made wholesale changes to the squad, although there will be major movements this coming summer. “We don’t have a mass exodus in and out of players, and I think that really helps,” she said. “We only had two signings in the summer, one in January, and when you’ve got continuity it really adds a lot of value to your team and your structures. It’s not easy to keep winning, it really isn’t, but we’ve shown again another side to ourselves today.”
Chelsea’s Wembley date with Manchester City is a chance to avenge the Conti Cup final at Wimbledon’s Plough Lane stadium, which Gareth Taylor’s side won 3-1.
Chelsea will only get a 5,000-ticket allocation for the women’s final.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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