Arsenal Ladies Beat Chelsea To Lift The FA Women's Cup

 

Arsenal Ladies won the FA Women's Cup for a record 14th time on Saturday after beating Chelsea Ladies 1-0 at Wembley. A superb first-half strike from Gunners forward Danielle Carter was enough to separate the two sides in front of a record crowd of 32,912 at England's national stadium.

Remarkably, this weekend's final between Arsenal and defending champions Chelsea was the first ever meeting between the two clubs in a major final and it was Pedro Martínez Losa's side that started stronger of the two teams, going close inside the opening minutes when Carter curled a shot just over the bar.
England international Fara Williams then struck a free-kick well over as the Gunners continued to dominate possession in the game's early stages. Chelsea had struggled to mount a serious attack inside the opening quarter of an hour and fell behind to a superb individual effort from Carter. After receiving the ball on the left hand side of the box, the young striker beat defender Hannah Blundell before curling a well-placed finish past Blues goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl.

Chelsea sparked into action following the goal and went close to an equaliser through Fran Kirby, who saw a shot well saved by Arsenal keeper Sari van Veenendaal. Asisat Oshoala then missed a golden opportunity to double Arsenal's lead when she scuffed an effort when clean through on goal. The Gunners continued create the better chances after the break and went close to a second when Vicky Losada struck the crossbar with a header.

As the match reached its final quarter, Chelsea continued to push for an equaliser and almost got it when Ji So-Yun fired a shot narrowly wide of the post. However, the Gunners were able to defend their one goal lead until the final whistle to continue their dominance of the FA Cup.