Chelsea beat Arsenal to reach Women’s FA Cup final

By

Defending champions Chelsea will face Manchester City in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup final after edging a fierce semi-final with Arsenal 2-0 at Meadow Park.

The Gunners were the dominant side in front of a sold-out crowd of 3,458, but the Blues seized on second-half opportunities with stunning strikes from Guro Reiten and Ji So-Yun sealing victory for the visitors.

Arsenal keeper Manuela Zinsberger kept her side in it until the final whistle but the Blues held on and ensured they will defend their title at Wembley on 15 May.

The hosts dominated the opening exchanges, Beth Mead working her way into the box before finding herself unable to manoeuvre into a good angle.

Emma Hayes’ side were dealt a scare minutes later as a Leah Williamson effort struck Beth England in the face. Play was paused as the Chelsea star received treatment but she was soon cleared to return.

The first real chance came on 13 minutes as Stina Blackstenius worked the ball down to the byline and picked out Vivianne Miedema in the box but she couldn’t complete the pass.

Chelsea finally found themselves on the front foot, Ji finding Reiten, whose effort was nodded away by Williamson.

Both sides continued to press, Miedema’s long-range effort sailing over the woodwork before Chelsea’s first good opportunity, a lobbed shot from England, was easily snatched out of the air by Zinsberger.

A sustained period of Blues attack kept the Gunners keeper busy, the Austrian blocking a low Niamh Charles effort before Williamson once again headed away a Chelsea opener.

Arsenal worked their way back into Chelsea’s half, skipper Kim Little finding herself in space to receive Mead’s cross, but Carter was there to ensure the first half ended goalless.

The Gunners looked the superior side after the break, Steph Catley sending a cross to Mead who was forced to spin to take her shot, missing by mere inches.

Reiten then got her chance, finding herself with the ball in acres of space, calmly working her way to the edge of the box before firing a stunning strike into the top left corner.

Zinsberger then kept her side in it with a series of key stops but had no chance of stopping the composed effort from Ji, who pounced on a rebound and sent a rocket to the top left, bouncing the ball off the crossbar to double the visitors’ advantage on 60 minutes.

Both sides made changes with momentum fully shifted, Chelsea piling on the pressure with Zinsberger tested, but answering, at every turn.

And with Mead unable to finish her last-gasp effort in added time, Hayes’ side ultimately booked their ticket to Wembley with a clean sheet.

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes said: “I thought we started really slowly, we didn’t carry out the game plan. It took us a real long time to get going, but once we did I thought we made it difficult for Arsenal to settle on the ball in the areas that they wanted to.

“The second half was evenly-poised, the goal came at the right time and I actually thought we dominated the second half.”

To follow the action and sign up for The FA Player’s live Barclays FA Women’s Super League coverage visit womenscompetitions.thefa.com