At some point on Saturday evening, one group of players will dance around the pitch at Wembley, tossing silverware through the air and basking in the glow of success while another departs empty-handed with nothing to show for their efforts other than regrets and thoughts of what might have been.
In the BBC television studio, Gary Lineker will be able to empathise with both, having met the twin impostors of triumph and disaster at the very same venue in his previous guise but he knows from experience that nothing he can say will soothe the losers.
“In 1986 I was part of an excellent Everton side which lost the FA Cup Final at Wembley and to make matters worse it was against Liverpool,” he recalls. “There weren’t too many days in my career that were worse than that one. It had all started so well. I scored the game’s opening goal, we were the better side and Liverpool couldn’t really get into the game. At one stage, it looked as if we would lift the trophy and I would be the hero, which made what followed even more difficult to bear.
“The game turned on a sixpence. We made one mistake, Liverpool equalised and suddenly everything changed. Up until that point, the entire experience had been so exhilarating but from that moment on it became increasingly demoralising, a feeling which stayed with all of us long after the final whistle. It was a great occasion, particularly with it being the first ever all-Merseyside FA Cup Final, but it was a nightmare to lose. The following day we had to go on a bus tour of the city with Liverpool who had pipped us to the FA Cup and the League Championship and it was embarrassing. Peter Reid gave the tour a miss and I have to say that was a wise decision on his behalf.
“That was a low but it made the high of winning the FA Cup five years later with Tottenham even more enjoyable. I didn’t score that day and personally I’ve had better days as I had a perfectly good goal ruled out and a penalty saved but as a team we did enough to edge past Nottingham Forest and this time the sound of the final whistle being blown brought a massive sense of relief. There was a real mixture of emotions because I was obviously disappointed about not scoring the penalty and the disallowed goal but having been on the losing team in 1986 there was a desperation to be on the winning side in 1991, particularly as I was in my 30s by then and recognised that this could be my last chance to win the trophy.”
This time, it will be Arsenal or Chelsea who are either intoxicated by success or crushed by failure. While Antonio Conte will arrive at Wembley fuelled by a combination of momentum, unity and a desire to win the double in his first season in English football, a beleaguered Arsene Wenger will make the short trip across North London in the knowledge that his is a club disunited by comparative failure and with doubts about his suitability to lead a revival being questioned more widely than ever before.
To make matters worse for Wenger, his prospects of causing an upset have diminished as a result of player unavailability with two of his leading centre-backs, Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel, absent through suspension and injury respectively. In terms of form, fitness, morale and quality, it is hard to make a case for Arsenal defeating the recently crowned champions but given his knowledge of the FA Cup, as both player and pundit, Lineker unsurprisingly maintains that this is not a competition for foregone conclusions even if the wind does appear to be blowing strongly towards Stamford Bridge rather than the Emirates.
“Chelsea are the favourites and it’s going to be difficult for Arsenal, there’s no question about that,” he admits. “But the beauty of the FA Cup Final, as has been shown so memorably over the years, is that it is a one-off game and that means we really don’t know what will happen. Chelsea have been exceptional this season and there is so much uncertainty at Arsenal so in that respect it does appear that the odds are stacked against Wenger and his players but the trophy is there to be won and Arsenal definitely have a chance.
“I am sitting on the fence on this one, not because I am neutral, but because I know the history of this competition and that makes me believe that, as a final, it is not as easy to predict as some are suggesting. The one thing I would say is I think there will be goals. We are due a real humdinger of a final and this could be it.”
If there is one thing, more than anything else, that Lineker feels would aid Arsenal’s cause, it concerns Wenger’s future.
“I can’t work out what advantage they feel they are deriving by not making his position clear,” the former England striker explains. “That suggests there is a degree of inner turmoil at the club and that’s never a good thing. As it is, he appears, from the outside at least, to be in some sort of no man’s land and even if that isn’t the case the uncertainty that surrounds him can’t be helpful.
“I have massive respect for Arsene and if I have one remaining wish for him it would be that he doesn’t linger to the point that his legacy becomes tarnished because after everything he’s achieved at Arsenal he wouldn’t deserve that. I’m sure if people knew that this would be his last game in charge neutrals would want him to win but as it is we’re all a bit uncertain about what the future holds for him which makes it slightly strange. What I would say, though, is that he has had enough days in the sun and more than enough FA Cups not to need the sentimental vote and he probably wouldn’t want it anyway because even if Arsenal look a long way off from where they want to be at the moment, if his career tells us anything it’s that he’s a winner.
“Unfortunately for Arsene he’s up against another one in Conte and I don’t think there’s anyone in English football who doesn’t have the utmost respect for what he’s achieved at Chelsea in such a short space of time. For me, he has the best box to box midfielder in the game at his disposal in N’golo Kante and when he left Chelsea I said that he would make them into serious title contenders again because that’s how good he is but Conte has made the most of the players he has and that tells us everything we need to know about his quality as a manager.
“Both managers know what is at stake. The FA Cup Final may no longer be the only live game that we see on television as it was when I was growing up and it might not be as big an event as it once was but it is still the second most significant trophy that you can win in English football. It still matters a great deal and that’s why there will be so much elation and desolation on show when we find out who this year’s winners are.”
