You Bet | Rare big-six FA Cup decider sees Chelsea primed to hand Antonio Conte a first-season double
The Blues go in hot favourites against an Arsenal side missing key defenders Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel
One of English football’s big six clubs usually lifts the FA Cup but Saturday’s Wembley showdown between Arsenal and Chelsea is a relatively rare final between two of them.
The last big-six clash in the final was five years ago when Chelsea beat Liverpool 2-1 and the one before that was another five years earlier when Chelsea again emerged victorious, this time 1-0 over Manchester United with a Didier Drogba extra-time winner.
If that gives Chelsea a good cup pedigree, the same is true of Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal. Over the past 20 years, going back to Wenger’s first season, Arsenal and Chelsea have been the most successful clubs in the FA Cup, each lifting the trophy six times as well as finishing runner-up on one occasion.
Chelsea are strong favourites to win on Saturday and complete the league and cup double in Antonio Conte’s first season.
Having once been a rarity, the double became more commonplace in the 1990s when it was achieved five times in nine years up to 2002, but it is a mark of the increasing competitiveness at the top level of English football that only Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea (2009-10) have managed it since.
For Conte to emulate his fellow Italian with a double in his first season in England would arguably be an even greater achievement.