CHELSEA - 1 (Hazard 22 pen)
MANCHESTER UNITED - 0
Kick Off 5:15pm Live on BBC1
The greatest domestic cup competition in the world gets second billing today due to the Royal Wedding but that should be all over by 2pm after which the BBC begins their build up to the big show. It's not quite the full treatment from the BBC that it used to be in the past, no episodes of Cup Final Mastermind, or the like this weekend and of course the kick off is 5:15pm and not 3pm where it traditionally should be but never mind. So good luck to Prince Harry and Megan, but this is the real big match up of the day!
This season is the 136th FA Cup Final and we are being treated to a real battle of two old foes, Chelsea who by their standards are having a bad season ending up in 5th place in the league having won it last year plus this is probably Antonio Conté final match in charge of the club. While Manchester United secured 2nd place in the league, a long way behind their noisy neighbours City, but José Mourinho is a serial trophy winner and will relish adding to his CV at the expense of one of his previous clubs.
If you can remember when there was life before the Premier League and the FA Cup was THE final game of the season it used to go on all day, Mastermind, Question of Sport, watching the team coaches head to the old stadium, the twin towers and hoards of fans walking down 'Wembley Way' from the station. But you will some special programs on BBC2 dedicated to John Motson who retired this year.
2pm
We start our FA CUP Saturday with FOOTBALL FOCUS, Dan Walker presents the weekly magazine programme live from Wembley Stadium ahead of the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Manchester United.
3pm
A brief twenty minute interview with José Mourinho about life at Manchester United. How they only give twenty mins for this I don't know as I'm sure he'd talk for hours. Note that there is no similar event in the schedule afforded to Chelsea boss Conté.
3.20
The Road to Wembley Another half hour traditional part of the day as we look back at the path each side took from the 3rd round all the way to the final. A break for the national and local news takes us up to 4.10pm where Gary Lineker takes over and continues with the build up the teams come out about 5pm and we will be treated to the traditional Cup Final anthem 'Abide With Me' kick-off is scheduled for 5.15pm .
It's a nice tribute to the late Ray Wilkins that the FA have invited his widow Jackie to attend this year's Cup Final and present the trophy to the winners. Since this year's FA Cup final is between two of his former clubs Chelsea and Manchester United I hope they put on a decent show today for him.
The line ups are confirmed as follows, Valencia gets the nod as captain following Carrick's retirement. Rashford starts in place of Lukaku and there's no place for Willian in the Chelsea XI which is a surprise.
MANCHESTER UNITED Team News;
De Gea (Gk)
Smalling A Valencia (cpt) _ Jones _
Young Pogba Herrera Matic
Lingard Rashford Sanchez
Lingard Rashford Sanchez
Courtois (Gk) _
Azpilicueta Rüdiger Cahill (cpt)
Moses Kanté Fabregas Bakayoko
Alonso Giroud E Hazard
SUBS -- Caballero, Zappacosta, Willian, Pedro, Chalobah, Barkley, Morata
Our match referee for today's final is Michael Oliver.
My best bets are Eden Hazard to score any time (2/1) and a penalty to be awarded in the match (7/2). Got them both in the first half thank you very much.
I suppose you will get good odds on Manchester United winning this too but I fear this could be a dull final, and a draw with extra time to really push us. So will also have a bet on it going to penalties which is 10/1 each side !
Latest Odds (from William Hill)
MANCHESTER UNITED - 13/8 / Draw - 2/1 / CHELSEA - 9/5
Wasn't wrong it was fairly dull affair but Chelsea win 1-0 for their 8th FA Cup success.
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