The Fa Cup Final

Saturday is the Fa cup final and it sees the end to this seasons glory hunt.  The final will be between two Premier league sides in Aston Villa and holders Arsenal.

Wembley was a nothing but a far off dream way back in August when I first started this cup journey.  Whilst Villa and Arsenal were kicking off their first games of the season teams from the lowest reaches of the English football pyramid were readying themselves for cup football in the extra pre-lim round.

For anyone who hasn't read this blog before the idea was to pick a random team from the very first round of the cup and follow that team until they were knocked out and then in true glory hunt style I then supported their victors.

Back in August I decided to take a punt on Morpeth Town from the Northern football league division 1.  Their opponents in the extra pre-lim round were Dunston UTS.  Dunston won the tie and continued to win until their progress was halted by Spennymoor Town.  The Moors where impressive and narrowly missed out on a first round proper place by losing out to AFC Telford in a replay.  Telford eventually came a cropper in the second round as they lost out just, to the highest ranked team in the competition at that time Bristol City.  City lost in the 3rd round to West Ham and then West Ham beat Everton before falling short to West Bromwich Albion.  Albion were beaten in the quarters by Villa and it is the claret and blue side of Birmingham I am now following in the final after their impressive victory over Liverpool in the semi.


The idea of the glory hunt was really to highlight the smaller teams in the competition and learn more about these teams that in some cases I have never heard of.  In the main I had good feedback from the fans and clubs that I featured in this blog and it has been fun looking at their ups and downs throughout the season even after my allegiance to them was severed by their exit from the competition.

When the final is over I will be looking back at how all these teams have faired in their respected leagues and cup competitions.

Now though it is time to talk about the big one.

Villa are going to be big underdogs on Saturday, and although they managed to stave off relegation from the premier league their end of season form hasn't been the best.  In fact the last two games were both losses.  Sherwood's men can maybe be excused though as once they looked as if they had enough points to stay up they probably subconsciously had their mind on their big day out, and to be fair there isn't any crime in that especially when you have had such a hard and at times frustrating season.  The last thing the manager would have wanted would have been any injuries to key players leading up to Saturday's match and it looks as though the Villa will have the luxury of picking from a full strength squad.

Arsenal on the other hand are in fine form as they yet again finish the season strongly and confirmed their place in the Champions League group stage for the 150th season in a row.  The Gunners are playing some lovely attractive stuff at the moment and they really are moving the ball around well.  Obviously they will be the big favourites in the final, however the Fa cup is the greatest for a reason and that is a lot to do with the fact that the firm favourites don't always win.

I will be cheering on the Villa on Saturday and I reckon a lot of others will because they are the underdogs.  Last year Arsenal eventually won the trophy after coming back from 2-0 down to a very un-fancied Hull City.  If Villa were to replicate that this year I believe it would be a tougher mountain to climb than it was last year and I would expect Sherwood's men to do a better job and see it.  Again though it is so hard to predict and anything is possible.

Arsenal celebrate last years cup win against Hull

The key for Villa in this game will be in midfield and in all likelihood it will be down to how well they deal with the threat the Arsenal midfield pose them.  Having said that if Delph, Westwood and Grealish put in a performance like they did against Liverpool and if the revitalised Benteke has got his shooting boots on there is no reason why Aston Villa can't take the big prize.

Can young Jack Grealish make the difference on Saturday?

An 8th Fa cup final success is a real possibility, although it would be the first since 1957 and also their first piece of silverware since they won the League cup in 1996.

Villa celebrate their last Fa cup victory in 1957.  That young boy is about 65 now!!

I will always have a soft spot for Villa because they beat Bayern Munich and won the European Cup in 1982.  Tony Morley, Gordon Cowans, Peter Withe and all that.  There wasn't a lot of football on the telly at the time so like all the big finals of the time I have fond memories of it.  I still will never know though how Tony Morley never made the England world cup squad in 1982.  Mr Greenwood what were you thinking of.

You have to go back to 1974 for the last time Aston Villa beat Arsenal in the Fa cup, It was in the 4th round and after a 1-1 draw at Highbury, Villa secured their passage to the next round with a 2-0 win at Villa Park.  Goals on the day came from Alun Evans and Sammy Morgan.  Morgan had also scored in the first game, Ray Kennedy scored the Gunners goal on that day.

Sammy Morgan and Bob Wilson have a gurn off back in 1974

That year though they lost in the very next round with a 1-0 defeat to Burnley.

If Villa can pull it off on Saturday it will be a remarkable story and a very big upset, it won't be as big an upset as the European Cup win in 1982 but it will feel just as good in some ways to their loyal supporters who have had precious little to celebrate in recent years.

The European cup final was a game that was dominated by Bayern Munich only for  a bit of magic by Tony Morley to ultimately to beat them after Villa's backs had been well and truly against the wall.  It was a smash and grab of seismic proportions.  Could it be a similar outcome on Saturday.

Villa legend Tony Morley's bit of magic was the difference as he set up Peter Withe for the only goal against European heavyweights Bayern |Munich in 1982.

https://youtu.be/m6xSbPjybok Surely the greatest moment in Aston Villa's History!!

Come on you Villians!!

Up the Villa!!