FA Cup
Facts and stats ahead of the Emirates FA Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool
The 2022 Emirates FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Liverpool will kick-off at 4.45pm on Saturday at Wembley Stadium.
In a repeat of the 2012 Final, ironically the last time Liverpool reached this stage, both teams will be looking to etch their name on the famous trophy in what is the 150th anniversary year of the world’s original knockout competition.
And ahead of the game, our colleagues at Opta have put together some stats and facts to digest ahead of the Final.
● For only the second time, the same two sides (Chelsea and Liverpool) will contest both the League Cup and FA Cup final in the same campaign. The previous occasion was 1992-93, when Arsenal beat Sheffield Wednesday in both finals.
● With this match a repeat of the 2021-22 League Cup final, Liverpool will look to win both of England’s domestic cup competitions in the same season for the first time since 2000-01, whilst the last team to lose both the League and FA Cup final in the same campaign were Middlesbrough in 1996-97.
● This will be the fourth meeting of the season between Liverpool and Chelsea, with the other three matches all ending level, despite the Reds lifting the League Cup trophy via penalties in February. The last fixture between two English top-flight sides to see more draws in the same campaign was Arsenal v Chelsea in 2017-18 (4).
● Liverpool and Chelsea have met once before in the FA Cup Final, doing so in 2012 which the Blues won 2-1 thanks to goals from Ramires and Didier Drogba. This will be the Blues’ 16th appearance in the competition’s final compared to the Reds’ 15th, the third and fourth most occasions of all sides behind Manchester United (20) and Arsenal (21).
● Chelsea are the first side to qualify for three consecutive FA Cup Finals since Arsenal between 2000-01 and 2002-03. However, after losing in both 2019-20 (v Arsenal) and 2020-21 (v Leicester), they are looking to avoid becoming the first side since Newcastle in 1998-99 to lose three final appearances in a row in the competition (also losing in 1973-74 & 1997-98).
● Liverpool have lifted the trophy in exactly 50 per cent of their 14 previous FA Cup Final appearances (seven), the joint-third lowest success ratio of the nine sides to have reached the Final at least ten times, ahead of only Everton (5/13 – 38%) and Newcastle (6/13 – 46%).
● The last two winners of the FA Cup, Arsenal (2019-20) and Leicester (2020-21) have ended up finishing
lower than their opponents (Chelsea) in both seasons. The lower ranked team at the end of the season hasn’t won the FA Cup in three consecutive years since 1976 to 1978 – Southampton (v Man Utd), Manchester United (v Liverpool) and Ipswich Town (v Arsenal).
This match will be both Chelsea and Liverpool’s 41st match at Wembley Stadium as a neutral venue, leaving just Arsenal (42) and Manchester United (52) with more such appearances there. The Blues (55%) are one of just two sides to have played there as neutrals more than ten times with a winning ratio of more than 50% (22/40), alongside Nottingham Forest (7/11 – 64%).
● In Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel, the FA Cup Final will see two German managers go head-to-head for the very first time, with the one emerging victorious the first German boss to get their hands on the trophy.
● Having been in charge of Chelsea for just one year and 108 days (on the day of this game), Thomas Tuchel is set to take charge of his fourth major domestic/European final at the club (2x FA Cup, League Cup and Champions League), with no manager taking charge of more in the club’s history (José Mourinho also four).
● Jurgen Klopp is set to become just the second Liverpool manager to take charge of the club in the final of four major domestic/European competitions (League Cup, Europa League, Champions League and FA Cup), after Bob Paisley (League Cup, FA Cup, UEFA Cup, European Cup).
● The 2021-22 FA Cup Final will be the 19th managerial meeting in all competitions between Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp and Chelsea’s Thomas Tuchel, meaning Klopp will have faced only Dieter Hecking (21) and Pep Guardiola (24) more often as a manager. In the two knockout ties between the men, Klopp has defeated Tuchel on both occasions – the 2015-16 Europa League quarter-final and the 2021-22 League Cup final.
● Sadio Mane has scored six goals against Chelsea since moving to Liverpool in 2016-17, with no other player netting more often vs the Blues in this time. Following the Senegalese’s brace in the semi-final v Man City, he is looking to become the first Liverpool player to score in consecutive Wembley appearances (when used as a neutral venue) since Phillipe Coutinho in April 2015 & February 2016.
● No player has had a direct hand in more FA Cup goals this season than Chelsea’s Timo Werner (two goals, three assists), which is also the outright most of any player for the two sides in the final. The last players to contribute directly to more Chelsea goals in the same campaign in the competition were both Pedro (six) and Willian (seven) in 2016-17, though they did end up on the losing side to Arsenal in the Final at Wembley that season.
● Since his first season within the Chelsea first team ahead of the 2019-20 campaign, no player has made more club appearances at Wembley Stadium than Mason Mount (six), who has now scored twice there – in the semi-final v Crystal Palace last month and against Man Utd in July 2020 in another FA Cup semi-final. However, Mount is yet to get his hands on a trophy following a Wembley final, losing the 2020 and 2021 FA Cup finals, and the 2022 League Cup final.
-OPTA
Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick as Manchester City crushed Liverpool 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday to cruise into the FA Cup semi-finals.
Champions Liverpool played well in the opening half-hour with Mohamed Salah wasting an early chance, but once Haaland had scored from the spot in the 37th minute after a foul on Nico O’Reilly, their resistance crumbled.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk conceded the penalty with a rash challenge, and there was little the Dutch defender could do as City played scintillating attacking football for the remainder of the game.
His blond hair swinging behind him in a ponytail, Haaland netted his second two minutes into first-half stoppage time with a well-placed header from an excellent Antoine Semenyo cross.
Semenyo got on the scoresheet himself five minutes after the break, latching on to a ball in behind from Rayan Cherki and chipping it beautifully past Giorgi Mamardashvili, and Haaland completed his treble with a shot off the underside of the crossbar in the 57th minute.
Liverpool’s woes continued when Mohamed Salah, who is set to leave the club at the end of the season, capped off a poor performance by having his penalty saved by James Trafford, snuffing out any faint hopes Liverpool might have had of a comeback
As the game turned into a victory parade, many Liverpool fans started heading for the exits, and City manager Pep Guardiola rang the changes, replacing Haaland with Omar Marmoush, the Norwegian striker receiving a standing ovation as he left the field.
In the other quarter-finals, Chelsea take on Port Vale and Southampton host Arsenal later on Saturday, with Leeds United travelling to West Ham United on Sunday.
The semi-finals will take place at Wembley, and Haaland is relishing a return to the stadium.
“First half, we struggled a bit, but then we after around 30 minutes we kept going and in the end it’s an amazing game. Another Wembley trip for us is amazing and important,” he told broadcaster TNT.
“I think (my form this season) has been a bit too much up and down, which is not good enough. I cannot keep on thinking about what I could have done differently or what didn’t happen, or what happened. I have to think about the next game.”
-Reuters
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Arsenal will be without injured England attacker Noni Madueke when they face Southampton in Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final, but Martin Odegaard and Jurrien Timber may return from injury, manager Mikel Arteta said.
Madueke was among the 11 Arsenal players who withdrew from international duty last month over injuries and fitness management, as the club eye their first Premier League title since 2004.
“When you have to communicate the state of every player, we are always honest and a medical decision had to be made. That was clear what the conclusion was,” Arteta told reporters on Friday.
“It makes us so proud that we had that many players in the national team. Players are desperate to play for their nation. I know how important it is to them. We are fully supportive of that and when we can do it, we do it.”
Madueke picked up a knee injury during England’s friendly with Uruguay, missing the game against Japan. But Arteta said his condition was not as bad as a knee injury that kept him out for six weeks.
Martin Zubimendi, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Timber, Leandro Trossard, Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice were unavailable for their countries.
Arteta did not disclose how many of them will be available for Saturday’s game, as Arsenal look to shake off last month’s League Cup final loss to Manchester City with a return to Wembley in the FA Cup semi-finals.
“We’re in a position right now where we need to make the strongest line-up we possibly can to win every competition,” he said. ” We are two or three games away from the FA Cup and we know how important that competition is for us.”
-Reuters
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Manchester City will look to secure a historic eighth straight semi-final appearance in the FA Cup when they face Liverpool on Saturday, manager Pep Guardiola said.
City beat Arsenal to win the League Cup before the international break, and Guardiola is hoping his team maintain the momentum as they fight to add the FA Cup and Premier League to this season’s trophy haul.
“Once you finish one, it is the next one,” Guardiola told reporters on Friday.
“Tomorrow we have the chance to reach an incredible milestone, to make eight semi-finals in a row. It’s never happened… it is a prestigious competition, and one of the toughest, special opponents for all of us, Liverpool.”
City have dominated English football with six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and five League Cups since Guardiola joined in 2016, but Liverpool have been a constant thorn in his side throughout his coaching career.
As a coach, Guardiola has only nine victories and seven draws in 26 matches against Liverpool, his worst win rate against a Premier League club.
City have beaten Liverpool twice in the Premier League this season, but had to dig deep for a late comeback when they won 2-1 at Anfield in February.
“So many times they have been the rival, the biggest, biggest one… top contender, top class players, all of them. Hopefully we have to perform in the level we did against Arsenal to reach the next step,” Guardiola said.
The manager also praised Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah, who has announced his departure in the summer.
“Absolutely. One of the greatest. The numbers, the consistency. What a player… absolute legend, of course for Liverpool, but (also) for the Premier League,” Guardiola said.
Guardiola, however, avoided commenting on his own midfielder Rodri, who said he was open to a move to Real Madrid when his contract with City runs out at the end of this season.
“No clue, no opinion… because I know the intention of the club, I know the intention, I think, of him, but I don’t know,” Guardiola said.’
-Reuters
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