After their 7-0 demolition of London rivals Millwall Lionesses in the fifth round, Arsenal Ladies must now overcome another local side on route to the FA Cup final at Wembley.
The Gunners will host Emma Hayes’ Chelsea Ladies, who currently sit top of the WSL1, as they look to retain the trophy they won last season.
The two sides met in the competition last year at the semi-final stage where Arsenal were the eventual 5-3 winners after extra time. Chelsea had led twice in the game but Kelly Smith equalised quickly both times and further goals from Danielle Carter, Shinobu Ohno and Casey Stoney saw the Gunners progress.
However Hayes’ team did do the double over their London rivals in the league and are already flying high this campaign, having secured back to back wins in the WSL 1 – the only club so far to do so.
“The competition has greater significance with the final being at Wembley – everyone in football would like to play there,’ the Blues boss said.
‘To do that we’ve got to knock the holders out, and the most dominant team in FA Women’s Cup history, on their own ground. We’ll have to be at our very best, but I don’t think we’ve ever been better equipped.
‘We’ve got a few ex-Arsenal players in our ranks and they will require no extra motivation for this game. They are all winners, and they want to do that with Chelsea. They all feel this is very much their team; it might be emotional for the ones going back for the first time, but once they step on to the pitch on Sunday I know they will have one thing on their mind: winning.’
Arsenal have won the FA Cup a record twelve times and will look to their new signing, defender Jemma Rose, to help make it thirteen.
Speaking ahead of the fixture she said: ““There is no doubt that Chelsea will be a tough game. They play a very similar style to us and they have some great attacking players who have a bit of speed when going forward.
“But these are the games you want to be involved, the big Arsenal versus Chelsea games, so I am really excited about it.”
Rose will be put under pressure by a confident Chelsea side, spear-headed by Gemma Davison who has scored 4 goals in her first 3 games for the club.
