Manchester United are ready to take the Vitality Women’s FA Cup crown from Chelsea at the weekend as both sides make their way to Wembley for the hottest showdown of the season.
Both sides are gunning for the domestic double and while most would suffer jitters, United manager Marc Skinner has learnt to take the emotion out of the occasion. "This is a business moment. There’s time for sentiment later, but this is about business," he said.
“[With Birmingham] We made it a massive event, bigger than it should have been, no disrespect but we made it too big. It became an emotional event rather than it being a real clear business-like event.
“You can celebrate afterwards if you win the cup and you can be as emotional as you want and there’s going to be enough emotions in the game.”
He speaks of previous FA Cup final experience as he rallies his squad ahead of their maiden appearance in the showpiece game. The occasion will mark their first time walking out into a sell-out crowd at an iconic stadium, for the final of the most prestigious cup in English football.
He added: “We can't just win this on an individual's experience of a final, we’ve got to win this as a collective. We’re going to have to suffer in this game, there's no doubt about it.”
The Reds have endured a nail-biting cup run but have scored 13 goals in the four games that have taken them to the final. While three out of their four opponents have been from the second tier, United have conceded four goals. In contrast to their league form, United have struggled somewhat, having kept only one clean sheet in the competition.
Rivals Chelsea have faced top-flight opponents throughout their entire FA Cup run, besting Liverpool, Arsenal, Reading and Aston Villa to make it to Wembley. The holders have netted nine goals in four games, conceding just three.
Skinner said of United's opponents: “They’re deadly. And we’ve got to make sure we keep that to a minimum. Chelsea always create chances in every game they play so you have to expect that.
“But what we have to do is make sure that they hurt at the other end and if we do that and we play to that attitude and that mentality then it's going to be a really exciting game.
“There’s no way we can stop Chelsea from doing everything but we can be prepared for it as much as possible.”
Skinner faces a tough decision when naming his starting XI and bench with everyone aside from Maria Thorisdóttir fit and ready for action.
Both sides head into the game on the back of convincing league wins as the Blues start closing the gap between themselves and United at the top of the Women's Super League table. Chelsea secured a 6-0 thrashing of Leicester in midweek while last weekend saw United dominate Tottenham 3-0.
But now both sides step away from the WSL and take a sideways glance towards FA Cup glory. United hope to lift the trophy for the first time in their history, while Chelsea are on the hunt to retain their title.
The game at a sold-out Wembley takes place on Sunday, May 14 with kick-off scheduled for 14:30. The game will be broadcast live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer with updates on the BBC Sport website.
We'll bring you all the reaction to the game at MEN Sport.
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