Drone photograph of Wembley Stadium
The scene at Wembley before Chelsea v Manchester City in the 2026 FA Cup final.
And now for something completely different: an FA Cup final between Chelsea and Manchester City. These two great clubs have met in a Champions League final, a League Cup final and a classic Full Members Cup final, but never, until today, on the FA Cup’s big day.
It’s a surprising stat given the size of the two clubs and their recent FA Cup record. Since the turn of the century – what did happen to that Millennium Bug – Chelsea and City have been involved in 17 of the 26 FA Cup finals.
In recent years, it’s been harder to deal with Kipling’s impostors. Chelsea were runners-up in three consecutive seasons from 2020-22, an unwelcome record that they hope to share by sundown. That’s because City – who won the FA Cup in 2023 en route to the Treble – have lost the last two finals.
City start as strong favourites, regardless of those defeats, and have an outside chance of a second domestic treble under Pep Guardiola. Chelsea have not won a domestic trophy since they beat Manchester United 1-0 in the 2018 FA Cup final.
Yet in that period they have won all three European trophies, a Super Cup and two Club World Cups. Funny old team. They can’t be trusted – but nor should they be written off.
Kick-off 3pm BST