The F.A. Cup Final 2020, Arsenal 2 (Aubameyang 28, pen.,67) v Chelsea 1 (Pulisic 5), played Saturday 1 August 2020, at Wembley Stadium in front of F.A. and Club executives.
Arsenal’s win in this the 139th F.A. Cup Final was their 14th, extending their lead over Manchester United on 12, and meaning that they have now won an incredible 10% of all Cup Finals played! They won 7 in the 20th century, and now all consecutive 7 they have played in the 21st in 2002,2003,2005,2014,2015,2017 and 2020! This equals their PLDs rivals Tottenham Hotspur’s consecutive 7 wins in 7 between 1901 and 1982. Manager Mikel Arteta became the first Gunner to win the F.A. Cup with the Club as both player/captain (twice) and Manager. Wow!
In the match Chelsea started strongly with an early goal (5) through a brilliant strike by Christian Pulisic, being the third American to play in The Cup Final after Tim Howard and John Hart, the first to score, and at 21 the youngest Cup Final scorer since ChristianoRonaldo. He later left the stage with a hamstring pull. That was also the fate of Cesar Azpilicueta who gave away the penalty from which Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang equalized.Another Arsenal player in the record books as that was the 400th goal in a F.A. Cup Final. The man from Gabon started the next goals’ century too with a second-half stunner which turned out to be the winner as Arsenal became more assured and Chelsea lost their way.
Another record was established by Referee Anthony Taylor who became the first official in the modern era to referee 2 F.A. Cup Finals, and the first to send off 2 players. The first of those was Chelsea’s Victor Moses for 2 yellows in a previous Final, and in this it was Mateo Kovacic who went for 2, the second no worse than the first foul. A frustrated Chelsea had 4 more yellows (Azpilicueta, Anton Rudiger, Mason Mount, and Ross Barkley), used all their outfield substitutes, and, with a late injury to the departing winger Pedro, finished the game with 9 men. A day to forget for the Blues, now beaten by the Gunners in 3 Cup Finals (2002, 2017, and 2020) who had a real day to remember including qualification for European football for the 25th season in a row at the expense of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The other London derby played saw Fulham return to the F.A. Premier League with a 2 – 1 win over Brentford on Tuesday 4 August in the EFL Championship £100 plus million play-off Final. No fairy tale end to the season for the Bees, but a personal triumph for the WhitesManager Scott Parker, in his first full season, who joins Mikel Arteta and Frank Lampard as PLDs managers who have played for their Club. Finally, its not London but it is football history, congratulations to Harrogate Town who beat Notts County, one of the founder members of the Football League, 3 – 1 in the National League play-off Final to enter the English Football League (EFL) for the first time ever.
Well that really is it for this remarkable 2019-2020 season, best wishes, Andrew at PLDs.