Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea – The Gunners come from behind to defeat London rivals Chelsea in the FA Cup Final thanks to a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang double which gave Mikel Arteta his first trophy as Arsenal manager and secured the Gunners 14th FA Cup triumph.
First half:
The first opportunity of the final fell to the Gunners when Arsenal left wing back Ainsley Maitland Niles cross was headed just wide of the post by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missing a very good chance to give the Gunners the perfect start to the FA Cup final.
Chelsea’s first effort of the game was courtesy of Mason Mount after stealing the ball off Granit Xhaka in midfield; however, the English midfielder saw his shot from outside of the box pushed wide of the post by Gunners goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to keep the score goalless early on.
Just under five minutes in to the 2020 FA Cup Final; it was Chelsea who took an early lead when former Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud set up American winger Christian Pulisic who slotted past Emiliano Martinez from close range to give the blue side of London the perfect start to Frank Lampard’s first cup final in charge of Chelsea.
Chelsea were beginning to look more threatening after taking the lead and came close to adding a second when Christian Pulisic’s impressive solo run ended in an effort that needed to be saved and eventually held by Emiliano Martinez as there were early signs that the FA Cup final could turn out to be a long 90 minutes for Arsenal especially with the mood Christian Pulisic was in early on.
Arsenal slowly began to grow back in to the game and the Gunners thought they drew level in the 24th minute when winger Nicolas Pepe’s shot nestled in to the top corner; however, the goal was flagged offside due to Ainsley Maitland-Niles being offside in the build-up much to disappointment of the Gunners and to the relief of Chelsea.
Just moments later and the Gunners did get some joy this time round as Arsenal were awarded a penalty when Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta bought down Arsenal forward Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang in what was uncharacteristically a clumsy challenge from the Spaniard to give Arsenal a chance to draw level in the final.
It was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang himself who stepped up and made no mistake from 12 yards out sending Willy Caballero the wrong way and bringing the Gunners level with 27 minutes on the clock with a goal that Arsenal most certainly needed to get back in to the game.
The rest of the first half turned relatively cagey as both teams seemed rather happy to go in to the break all square and start again in the second half in what was a very finely poised 2020 FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium.
Second half:
Less than a minute in to the second half and Chelsea had a big chance to regain the lead when Christian Pulisic ran through on goal; however, in a double blow for Chelsea, Pulisic put the ball wide of the far post and pulled his hamstring in the process forcing the American winger to go off injured in the final causing Chelsea to lose their brightest player in the match so far.
67 minutes in to the 2020 FA Cup final and it was Arsenal who took the lead for the first time in the match when Nicolas Pepe set up Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang who took the ball past Kurt Zouma and then chipped the ball beyond Willy Caballero to put the Gunners 2-1 in front and in the driver’s seat to perhaps give Mikel Arteta his first trophy as Arsenal manager.
Just over five minutes later and Chelsea had even more misery piled on them when midfielder Matteo Kovacic was sent off for a second bookable offense after fouling Granit Xhaka, making the blue side of London’s chances of getting back in to the FA Cup final look near impossible at this point.
Arsenal saw out the remainder of the FA Cup final fairly comfortably with Chelsea not having any other meaningful opportunities to draw level and Chelsea also saw a bad injury received by a man on his way out of the club in Pedro to add to their misery. This victory meant that Arsenal were confirmed as FA Cup winners for the 14th time in the club’s history which is two more triumphs than any other club.
Full time:
Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea
Man of the match:
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Where would Arsenal be without this man? Arsenal’s Gabonese striker has now scored 29 goals in all competitions this season and not surprisingly the forward turned out to be the Gunners match winner in the FA Cup final by bagging a brace to see of London rivals Chelsea, Aubameyang was easily the stand out on the Wembley pitch.
Fascinating facts:
This was Arsenal’s third FA Cup final victory over Chelsea in the 21st Century with the years being 2002, 2017, and 2020.
Chelsea have won six and lost three of their FA Cup finals in the 21st century with all three of them defeats coming against Arsenal.
This was the first time that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored in a cup final for Arsenal in his third attempt at the club.
This was the first time that Christian Pulisic has scored in a final for Chelsea.
Frank Lampard has now lost both of his finals as a manager in the two seasons he has managed including one with Derby County (Championship playoff final) 2019 and (FA Cup final) 2020 with Chelsea.
This was the first FA Cup final in which the two managers have been former players of each club since 2012 when Chelsea met Liverpool and the two managers were Roberto Di Matteo (Chelsea) and Kenny Dalglish (Liverpool).
Talking points:
Will Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang now remain an Arsenal player after winning his first trophy at the club? Keeping hold of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang seems to be undoubtedly the Gunners biggest task this summer and despite a disappointing 8th place finish in the Premier League, winning a trophy might well be the thing Arsenal needed to do to convince Aubameyang to remain a Gunners player in the 2020/2021 Premier League season.
Chelsea have a trophyless season for the first time since 2015/2016 – Frank Lampard has endured a fairly mixed first season in charge of Chelsea, despite finishing in the top 4, Lampard has given Chelsea their first season without a trophy in four years it will now be interesting to see how Lampard does next season with a transfer window under his belt.
Mikel Arteta wins first trophy at Arsenal despite only managing 28 games at the club – If you were to say that to Arsenal fans when Mikel Arteta took over back in December that the Gunners would end the season lifting a trophy, they would never have believed you but that is exactly what Mikel Arteta has done and this shows promise for the Gunners going forward under the Spaniard who has delivered the first Gunners trophy in three years.
Arsenal have now won four out of their last seven FA Cups – Arsenal love winning the FA Cup, in fact the Gunners have now won seven in the 21st Century alone and 14 in the competitions history so it is fair to say it is their competition.
Sam’s match reports 