On Sunday, Manchester United and Chelsea will compete for the Women’s FA Cup at a sold-out Wembley Stadium. This is a remarkable achievement for Manchester United, as the Glazers disbanded the senior team shortly after arriving in Manchester in 2005, leaving the club with only an academy for 13 years. However, the team returned for the 2018-19 season in the new Women’s Championship and have since recorded three consecutive fourth-place finishes in the Women’s Super League. This term, with Lionesses attackers Ella Toone, Alessia Russo and Nikita Parris, plus England keeper Mary Earps among the household names, Marc Skinner’s team are challenging all-conquering Chelsea for the title.
Chelsea have had an impressive run of success domestically under the guidance of Emma Hayes, winning four WSL titles in five years and chasing a third straight FA Cup win (and fifth in a decade). If United are to deny them at Wembley, they will have to keep Australia superstar Sam Kerr quiet, who netted the only goal when they met in March and opened the scoring in the Blues’ 3-1 win at Leigh Sports Village back in November. However, United have proven they are now one of the big hitters in women’s football and have a player in Ella Toone who knows how to win matches at Wembley, having scored in the European Championship final against Germany last year and this season’s Finalissima versus Brazil. This promises to be an exciting match and Sunday’s bumper crowd is in for a treat.