Time: 12:30 PM EST
Date: Saturday May 30th, 2015
Location: Wembley Stadium. London, England
Television: FOX
Last weekend, the stage was set for the 2015 FA Cup final. Arsenal defeated Reading 2-1, while Aston Villa defeated Liverpool 2-1, setting up an Arsenal vs. Aston Villa match-up for the 2015 FA Cup final. The FA Cup is an annual knockout competition in England and is the oldest association football tournament in the world. While the Champions League has taken some of the shine off of the FA Cup, many British fans still consider winning the FA Cup to be one of the biggest honors in professional football. A crowd of 85,000+ fans will be expected for the match.
The FA Cup was first held in 1871-1872 and is open to all teams in the Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two, and many semi-professional leagues. Simply put, teams of all standards compete in this tournament. From Chelsea and Manchester United, all the way down to amateur village teams. This tournament has become famous for monumental upsets that occur every single year. The FA Cup almost always delivers a lower league team knocking off one or two Premier League teams during a cinderella run. The competition is a knockout tournament with pairings for each round drawn at random. There are no seeds and the draw for the next round is not made until all the matches from the previous round have been completed. The draw also determines which team will play at home. Each matchup is played as a single leg. If a draw occurs, the away team in the first leg will host the replay. However, if the teams draw in the semi-finals or in the final, there will be two 15 minutes periods of extra time to determine the winner. If the match is still not decided after extra time, it will move to penalty kicks. 736 teams entered the competition this year. There are 14 rounds of the competition. The earlier rounds began in August with the lowest ranked teams and the tournament culminates in May with the final two teams. The FA Cup winner qualifies for the following season’s UEFA Europa League.
Arsenal are the defending FA Cup champions and have won the FA Cup a record 11 times. The Gunners have had a very successful season. They currently sit in 2nd place in the Premier League table. Arsenal defeated Hull (2-0), Brighton (3-2), Middlesboro (2-0), Manchester United (2-1), and Reading (2-1) to reach the final. The Gunners are led by the goal scoring duo of Oliver Giroud and Alexis Sanchez. The Gunners will be wearing their yellow and blue kits. Arsenal will come into the match as heavy favorites and will surely expect to bring home their second straight FA Cup trophy.
Aston Villa have won the FA Cup five times, however, they have not lifted the trophy since since 1957. Their most recent FA Cup final was in 2000, which resulted in a 1-0 loss to Chelsea. Additionally, Aston Villa have struggled through one of their worst Premier League seasons in their storied history. They currently sit in 15th place in the Premier League table. They fired their manager Paul Lambert on February 11th and hired Tim Sherwood. Since Sherwood has taken over, the Villians have had an uptick in form. They’ve climbed out of the relegation zone and have advanced through the FA Cup. Aston Villa defeated Blackpool (1-0), Bournemouth (2-1), Leicester City (2-1), West Bromwich Albion (2-0), and Liverpool (2-1) to reach the final. The Villians are led by their one man goal machine, Christian Benteke. He is one of most physical forwards in England and if Aston Villa are to have a chance against Arsenal, he will certainly have to be a factor.
It should be a great contest between two of the proudest clubs in England. Looking forward to Wembley!
Villa have won the FA Cup seven times, not five.