FA Cup final derbies: 5 neighbour disputes at Wembley
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FA Cup final derbies
The domestic season ends on Saturday with the FA Cup final between Premier League champions Manchester City and neighbours United at Wembley.
Although there have been London, Merseyside and West Midlands derbies in the past, Saturday’s will be a first involving Manchester clubs.
City hope to complete the second leg of a treble and United can secure a cup double as we look at some of the recent FA Cup final derbies.
West Ham 1 Arsenal 0 (1980)
Arsenal were the overwhelming favourites to retain the FA Cup having beaten Manchester United 12 months earlier in one of the best finals of all time in which Alan Sunderland scored at the back post in the dying seconds.
The Gunners finished fourth in the top flight in the 1979-80 season, while the Hammers ended six points shy of the automatic promotion spots in seventh place in the old Division Two, so they were up against it on final day.
Despite the gap between the teams, West Ham boss John Lyall got it right on the day by flooding the midfield with a 4-5-1 formation and his plan paid dividends as Trevor Brooking stooped to head home the only goal of the game in the 13th minute.
The game also saw West Ham’s Paul Allen become the youngest ever FA Cup finalist at 17 years and 256 days, although his day was slightly spoiled when he was chopped down by Willie Young when clean through.
The Arsenal defender was only booked for the offence, but the punishment did not fit the crime and the rules of the game were consequently altered so that a professional foul would in future result in a straight red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity.
Liverpool 3 Everton 1 (1986)
Liverpool had won the Division One title for the fourth time in five seasons, but only by two points from their neighbours, so a close contest was in prospect in the first ever Merseyside derby.
Footballer of the year Gary Lineker latched on to Peter Reid’s long ball to give the Blues a half-time lead despite Bruce Grobbelaar’s best efforts to keep out the rebound, but the Reds turned up the heat after the break.
Kevin Sheedy twice went close to extending Everton’s lead only for Ian Rush to go round keeper Bobby Mimms to level before Craig Johnston converted Jan Molby’s cross to put Liverpool in front.
Everton pushed up in search of an equaliser and paid the price as their rivals launched a counter-attack which saw Ronnie Whelan pick out Rush to smash in his second to complete the league and cup double.
Liverpool 3 Everton 2 (1989)
Three years later the Merseyside rivals met once more in sombre circumstances, with Liverpool again going for the Double just five weeks after the Hillsborough disaster.
John Aldridge put Liverpool ahead with their first attack in the fourth minute and that’s how it stayed until Stuart McCall stabbed in the equaliser with seconds remaining to take the game into extra time.
Substitute Rush, back at Liverpool after two years with Juventus, restored the lead but McCall chested down a clearance and volleyed the ball past Grobbelaar for his second equaliser.
But two minutes later, John Barnes curled in a cross from the left and Rush’s deft header ensured another cup triumph for Kenny Dalglish’s side, although their hopes of a Double ended at Anfield in the most dramatic fashion six days later as Michael Thomas struck in stoppage time to give Arsenal the title on goals scored, perfectly summarised by Brian Moore’s famous “it’s up for grabs now” commentary.
Arsenal 2 Chelsea 1 (2017)
It was another 28 years before the next FA Cup final derby as Arsenal hoped to atone for missing out on Champions League qualification by defeating Premier League winners Chelsea at Wembley.
Alexis Sanchex gave them the perfect start in the fourth minute although the goal was initially ruled out by the linesman who thought Aaron Ramsey had touched the ball standing in an offside position.
Danny Welbeck then struck the post with a header, but Chelsea’s chances of a Double in Antonio Conte’s first season as manager seemed to be over when Victor Moses was shown a second yellow card for a dive in the area.
However, Diego Costa levelled with a slight deflection with a quarter of an hour remaining only for Arsenal to win it three minutes later when the unmarked Ramsey ran on to Olivier Giroud’s cross from the byline and headed home.
Arsenal 2 Chelsea 1 (2020)
The 2020 Cup final was a repeat of the 2017 showpiece and took place at an empty Wembley Stadium in August because of the Covid pandemic.
Despite the eerie atmosphere, the outcome proved to be the same as three years earlier but this time it was Chelsea who took an early lead through Christian Pulisic, although the American later went off with a hamstring injury early in the second half.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converted the penalty he won to level the scores in the 27th minute and scored the winner by turning Kurt Zouma inside out and finishing with aplomb.
Blues midfielder Mateo Kovacic was later shown a second yellow card for an innocuous challenge as Arsenal made it a record-extending 14 FA Cup triumphs.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
