Fran Kirby stars as Chelsea Ladies win second Women’s FA Cup over Arsenal
Arsenal Women 1-3 Chelsea Ladies: Two from Ramona Bachmann put the Blues up after an hour
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Your support makes all the difference.A double from Ramona Bachmann and one from Fran Kirby secured a second FA Cup triumph for Chelsea Ladies as they ran out comfortable 3-1 winners over London rivals Arsenal Women in front of a record 45,423 spectators at Wembley.
Bachmann had put Chelsea 2-0 up after an hour, before Dutch forward Vivianne Miedema had given Arsenal hope with 18 minutes remaining. However, Kirby’s brilliant curling effort just two minutes later, denied Arsenal their 15th Women’s FA Cup.
A first-half that could only be described as tense saw few clear-cut chances created, despite Chelsea dominating much of the possession and working the ball into some good areas.
Chelsea’s Kirby created the first real ‘jump out of your seat’ moment after seven minutes, running at pace from the halfway line at the Arsenal defence, before running out of room to release a shot.
Her strike partner Bachmann registered the first notable effort just a minute later. Some neat, intricate passing on the edge of the box saw Ji So-Yun feed the Swiss international. She spun past Arsenal’s Emma Mitchell inside the box, before firing wide of Sari van Veenendaal’s goal when she should have hit the target.
Mitchell’s fellow defender Louise Quinn, showed how dangerous she can be in the opposition box on 14 minutes when she met a Jordan Nobbs free-kick, but was unable to keep her header down.
The Gunners struggled to create any clear-cut opportunities in the opening 20 minutes, but in the 21st minute, Miedema picked up a ball on the edge of the box, dummied her way past Drew Spence, before her right-foot effort was deflected just wide.
Spence made amends five minutes later when she played Kirby through for Chelsea’s first effort on target, but the England striker could only fire straight at van Veenendaal.
As the half went on, Chelsea began to grow more dominant, pressing higher up the field and forcing Arsenal into errors.
South Korean Ji So-Yun had two efforts on goal in the final minutes of the half. First firing a weak shot in the 43rd when her own free-kick on the edge of the box was deflected back to her, forcing a comfortable save out of van Veenendaal, and then firing over from inside the box following a good pass from Bachmann.
Bachmann’s hard work in the first half was rewarded just two minutes into the second, when her goal finally broke the deadlock.
A neat one two with strike partner Kirby saw the Swiss forward find space inside the box, and her effort from the right of the area, riffled into the roof of the net past the outstretched van Veenendaal.
Arsenal immediately called Blues keeper Hedvig Lindahl into action in the 51st minute, when Mead’s deflected effort on the edge of the box was spilled by the Swedish keeper, before the ball was cleared to safety.
Bachmann, who last month extended her contract with Chelsea, doubled their lead on the hour mark after a combination of quick feet, and a stroke of luck.
Finding herself wide on the right, she jinked past Mitchell before curling a left-foot shot that deflected off Arsenal’s Quinn, and past the stranded van Veenendaal.
Arsenal brought themselves back into the game in the 73rd minute when Mead worked her way to the by-line, before picking out Miedema, who fired home from ten yards.
Arsenal’s hopes of a comeback were dashed just two minutes later, when Kirby picked up a pass from Hannah Blundell on the edge of the box, ran at the Arsenal defence, and curled a beauty past van Veenendaal from 20-yards to put the game out of sight.
The Gunners were unable to find a way back as Chelsea saw out the game, claiming their second FA Cup in three years, with captain Katie Chapman winning her tenth.
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