FA Cup final preview: History beckons for Chelsea and Arsenal

Arsenal and Chelsea will be gunning for a slice of football immortality on Saturday when they meet in the FA Cup Final at Wembley.

If the Blues triumph they will become only the 12th team in history to win the coveted league and cup double, a feat last achieved by the Chelsea vintage of 2009-10 who won the league and beat Portsmouth 1-0 in the FA Cup Final. Only Arsenal and Manchester United have done the double more than once (on three occasions each) and the chance to join that very exclusive club will provide the Blues with an added incentive on Saturday evening.

For Arsenal, victory at Wembley would be their 13th FA Cup title, one more than Manchester United with who they currently share the record. In reaching their 20th final the Gunners have gone one better than the Red Devils but to mark the occasion with another win would be a reason to cheer at the end of a bitterly disappointing and divisive season for the north London club.

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Arsene Wenger will announce whether he is staying on at the Emirates once the final is out of the way but for the moment the Arsenal manager is focused only on beating the Blues in the Gunners' third final in four seasons.

They beat Hull 3-2 in a thrilling final in 2014 and the following season Aston Villa were thrashed 4-0. Both those sides have since been relegated and Chelsea will provide far sterner opposition despite the fact that they've eased up since clinching the league title a fortnight ago.

It was a factor acknowledged earlier in the week by Antonio Conte when he said "the real danger for us is to think that the season has finished… but this season can become fantastic if we're able to win the FA Cup. We must find the right motivation".

In some ways Conte has much to thank Arsenal for in his first season in charge of the Blues. Back in September it was their 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Gunners that prompted the Italian to change his formation to 3-4-3, a switch that had a dramatic effect on the club's season.

From struggling to find any form in the Premier League, Chelsea subsequently won 83 of a possible 96 points as they romped to the title. Among the clubs trounced were Arsenal, beaten 3-1 at Stamford Bridge in February, but despite that result - and the fact they finished 18 points ahead of their London rivals in the league table - Conte says his side are the underdogs.

"If you ask me who you think the favourites are now, I think it’s Arsenal," he said. "They only have this possibility to find a good season after a win in the FA Cup."

Conte is the 12th Chelsea manager that Wenger has faced during his 21 years in charge at Arsenal and second he has faced in the FA Cup final. Claudio Ranieri was in charge of the Blues when they were beaten 2-0 by the Gunners in the 2002 FA Cup Final. One of the Arsenal players who played in that final was Martin Keown, now a columnist with the Daily Mail and he believes the Blues are the favourites.

"My head tells me Chelsea will win 2-1," he said. "But my heart says Arsene Wenger could still pull something out of the hat… if you believe in him you believe this could be his day to win against all odds."

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