Chelsea's journey to the Women's FA Cup Final

After missing out on the FA Cup final last year, Chelsea have reclaimed their spot and will face Manchester United this Sunday.

In last year’s FA Cup campaign, Chelsea were knocked out in the semi-finals by this years opposition, who later went on to win the competition. A couple of convincing wins later and the Blues have sailed through to Wembley with the aim of completing the treble.

The last time Chelsea starred in the final was the 2022/23 season and they arrived with a completely different team, but still lined up to face the Red Devils. Out of the 11 who started, only Niamh Charles, Erin Cuthbert, Lauren James, Guro Reiten and Sam Kerr remain at the club, however, James and Kerr will be unavailable for this years contest. Ann-Katrin Berger was in goal, but has since transferred to the NWSL and Magdalena Eriksson led the team, but she has since moved on to Bayern Munich. This year, while Spurs loanee Rebecca Spencer is on the bench, Hannah Hampton is likely to start after playing every minute of the WSL season and winning the Golden Glove, interestingly sharing the award with Manchester United’s first choice keeper, Phallon Tullis-Joyce. English duo, Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh are also expected to start for the Blues. After moving back to the WSL from Barcelona this season, both have sealed their places in the starting lineups for most games, so to not see them would be a surprise. The team will also be led out by Millie Bright, the only player to have won all eight of Chelsea’s League titles.

Chelsea’s FA Cup campaign started with a London derby against Women’s Championship side, Charlton Athletic, where they progressed into the next round with a 4-0 win. In the fifth round, the Blues faced Everton, again scoring four goals but conceding one. The quarter-final and semi-final games, didn’t have quite as much of a convincing score line, 1-0 against Crystal Palace in the quarter finals and a 94^th minute goal from Aggie Beever-Jones in the semis got them the 2-1 result they needed to get to Wembley.

Chelsea are currently in the best form, having gone undefeated the whole season in the WSL. In their last six games, they have lost two, both coming against Barcelona in the Champions League. Having missed out on the quadruple, the team are more hungry than ever to not only go undefeated the whole season but also take home the treble.

The last game they played against Manchester United was a 1-0 win which secured them the title with two games to spare for the sixth consecutive year, thanks to Lucy Bronze’s header.

To see who will come out on top, tune into BBC One on Sunday for a 1:30pm UK time kick off. Will Chelsea win the treble, or will Manchester United lift the trophy a second time?