FA Cup Final 19 May

The first FA Cup final to be played at the new Wembley stadium can at least boast that it has the two clubs that have clearly been the best sides in the Premiership this season. Imagine if we had ended up with Wolves vs Charlton as the historic first game…

However having the two best sides playing each other does not guarantee that they will produce a great spectacle. The FA Cup very rarely produces a great game and since 1993 only two games have seen both sides score. The encounters between Chelsea and Manchester United over the past three years have usually been pretty lacklustre as they have developed into tactical battles rather than all out attacking games, which is what the neutral fan would like.

The bookies make Manchester United slight favourites for this game and I think they are right to do so. United have the upper hand in that they have won the Premiership and will come into this game with the confidence of a side that knows they are Champions. By contrast, Chelsea have a side that is not used to losing and it is hard to know what their failures in the Champions League and Premiership will have done to morale. Clearly Chelsea have a very talented squad but they have not been playing that well together this season and, crucially, they have not been scoring enough goals. United have won the Premiership mainly by scoring a lot of goals and they have needed to because at times their defence has been decidedly shaky.

Mourinho knows that losing this match could cost him his job and with the pressure on I think Chelsea are a team to swerve. The bookies offer Manchester United at a very reasonable 1.92 off level handicap and I think that’s worth a two point bet.

[The game ended 0-0 after 90 minutes]