Every stat points towards an Arsenal FA Cup win by Russell Cane
Arsene Wenger will be looking to secure a record 12th FA Cup for Arsenal as his side face Aston Villa at Wembley on Saturday. Victory for the Gunners would also see Wenger go level with former Aston Villa manager George Ramsey as the manager with the most FA Cup titles ever. A feat that new Villa manager Tim Sherwood will be looking to avoid.
The head-to-head record between the two managers sees Wenger with the upper hand. The two meetings between the pair during Sherwood’s tenure at Tottenham saw Wenger get the better of Sherwood on both occasions. A 2-0 win in FA Cup third round at the Emirates last season, quickly followed up two months later by a 1-0 away win at White Hart Lane in the league.
The results between the two sides were very one sided this season while former boss Paul Lambert was still at the helm. Arsenal won 3-0 at Villa Park in September and then followed up with a 5-0 home win at the Emirates in February. The two wins see Wenger’s men go into Saturday’s final 8-0 up on aggregate this season.
While Arsenal look to retain the FA Cup and secure their second back-to-back trophy, a feat they last achieved in the 2001/02 and 2002/03 seasons, Aston Villa will be looking to secure their first FA Cup in 58 years when they beat Manchester United 2-1 in the 1957 final.
Aston Villa have the better win rate in FA Cup finals. They have won 7 of the 10 finals they have reached, a success rate of 70%. While Arsenal have managed 11 FA Cup final wins in 19 attempts, a slightly lesser success rate of 58%.
One interesting fact that appears firmly in Arsene Wenger’s favour is that since the 2002/03 season the FA Cup final has been won by the side that has fielded the fewest English players. In the 2002 final Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-0 with the help of David Seaman, Sol Campbell, Tony Adams, Ashley Cole and Ray Parlour, all five began the game. Chelsea only started two Englishmen, Frank Lampard and Graeme Le Saux.
Arsenal fielded two Englishmen in their semi-final against Reading – Kieran Gibbs and Danny Welbeck. Aston Villa on the other hand started a total of five against Liverpool – Nathan Baker, Kieran Richardson, Tom Cleverley, Ashley Westwood and Fabian Delph.
The facts and stats support a comfortable win for Wenger’s men. But this is the FA Cup, and in the FA Cup… anything can happen.
Stats and Infographic supplied by Opta-powered fantasy football game www.oulala.com
Stats mean nothing,this is a cup final and not forget this villa side beat Liverpool and many good sides to reach the final. It will be a close and tight match, Sherwood is not one of the best managers around but its the final and his players will be fired up,let’s not win the way we did against hull…..we need to be at our best
Ha, I remember it was around this time last year and arsenal had much better stats than Hull. Look how that game nearly turned into a disaster. Villa are going to be up for this game 100%. So we need to turn up straight from kick off!
This is the cup final!
no 1 is favorite or guaranteed a win!
Lets just hope the players have no such ideas or else i can see a monaco replay (sadly)!
Wigan vs Man City. That’s all I will say.
Man shittty got robbed that year, that shows a team from lower division can do damage. Villa are by far greater than Wigan that year. Benteke,delph,cleverly these are just a few big players they have
You can call me superstitious but articles like this do not sit easy with me. The way it is reported, Arsenal have already won. I don’t think any actual fans feel that the result is a formality. A one-off, winner-takes-all game, form can go right out of the window. I will wait for the chickens to hatch, before i start to count them.
Didn’t even read d article. Stats don’t matter. A fast start and good finishing will b key.
Stats, what stas?????????????? This is a CUP FINAL…….
Even if we were playing Skal Styr,, a final is always always tricky…
I agree. Finals are always tricky
I mean we were beaten by City in the League Cup final. Birmingham City that is. A team that got relegated
Actually all FA Cup matches can be tricky. We beat Brighton 3-2. Chelsea, City lost to lower teams. Villa can beat us if we don’t show up.