Prime News Ghana

Arsenal set to deny Chelsea a double in FA Cup final

By Michael Abayateye
Conte face off with Wenger
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Arsenal will be hoping to save Arsene Wenger's career with the club when they face Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Saturday.

An FA Cup triumph over Chelsea might give the under-fire coach another chance to lead the club for another season or two.

After failing to secure a top four place in the league, Arsenal would be hoping to console their fans with the FA Cup trophy.

They would also be hoping to deny Chelsea(EPL winners) a double as the Antonio Conte side step up efforts to complete the season with another trophy.

Chelsea's breakthrough came after their 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the first round of the EPL and the winners went on to win 11 games in a row and subsequently crowned champions. The Blues avenged that defeat to Arsenal in the first round with a 3-1 victory in February.

It promises to be an interesting encounter, as both teams expected to put up their best squad for the game.

Conte would play his best possible with the likes of Willian and Cesc Fabregas competing with Pedro and Nemanja Matic for spots in the team. 

Chelsea have used the same core group of 15 or 16 players all season but Conte has preferred to resist the temptation to rotate his team - as the Blues avoid the extra fixtures that European football bring in 2016-17. 

The likes of Eden Hazard, N'golo Kante, Victor Moses,Marcos Alonso, David Luiz and Gary Cahill would be in tick of affairs for the Blues.

For Arsenal Laurent Koscielny was given a straight red for a tackle on Enner Valencia when they beat Everton 3-1 on Sunday.

Wenger remains hopeful that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will make his return from a hamstring injury for the final, but he has further absentees that include Santi Cazorla and Jeff Reine-Adelaide. 

Shkodran Mustafi is doubtful for the match after suffering a concussion which could lead Arsenal to a defensive injury crisis. Kieran Gibbs is hopeful of a comeback after missing the Everton game with a thigh injury.

But the likes of Olivier Giroud, Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil are expected to feature in the game to give Chelsea a run for their money.

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