Frank Lampard has won the FA Cup four times as a player and now, at the end of his first season as manager of Chelsea, he wants to deliver it again for the club ‘in his bones’.

In an interview with The FA, organizers of the world’s oldest club competition,  Lampard remarked thus:

“I’m really excited to be involved an FA Cup final at the end of my first year as Chelsea manager.

“We’ve beaten some really good teams to get here, including Liverpool, Leicester City and an in-form Manchester United in the semi-final, so it’s been a tough road and I’m really proud to have made it.

“Overall, I’ve really enjoyed my first season as Chelsea manager. I knew there would be some tough moments, but I wanted to try and stay in and around the top four, and win a trophy, and we now have the opportunity to do that.

“Not many people remember the losers on these occasions, though, and so it’s up to us to finish the job and go on and win it. We have a very tough match against another in-form club, and so while I’m proud to be here, I want to make sure we’re on the winning side.

“We face a tough opponent and I’m expecting to see in Arsenal a continuation of the improvement they’ve enjoyed under Mikel Arteta. They’re a team of many talents, particularly in the attacking areas, and they have some really exciting young players.

“You can see they’re really organised defensively under Mikel and he has them playing well; their semi-final win against Manchester City was a great example of the uplift in performances.

“I’ve played in a few of these Finals before but Chelsea is a club that is lucky to be involved in many big games. A final always has an extra edge to it, but I try and stay as consistent as possible on these occasions both with the players and what I say to them. It’s important that they realise that they only get one chance to win this game.

“The biggest thing I always felt going into finals as a player was that you don’t want to have any regrets, and I want the players to play individually and collectively without any regrets afterwards. I want them simply to give everything for Chelsea. Today is a big deal for everyone involved at the club.

“I have some very fond memories of winning this competition. I scored the winning goal against Everton in 2010, which was always a dream of mine as a young boy.

“Scoring that goal was a great moment, but every time you win the Cup and what that means collectively to your teammates, the coaching staff and the fans is always huge. This stage really holds that element of magic for me.

“The fact that today’s Final is a derby only adds to the sense of occasion. Getting your name on that cup forever is a big incentive, but to know that there’s a rivalry and what that means to the supporters, that adds to the spice.

“Winning the FA Cup as a player was amazing, but when you’re a manager you take on more responsibility, so to bring success gives you a more rounded feeling of responsibility.

“I want to bring success to this club, my club, and I’d love to win this for everyone, particularly the fans as I know exactly what this competition means to them.”

A winning captain in 2014, Mikel Arteta wants his young side to continue their process and follow the win against Manchester City with another big performance.  According to The FA, the Arsenal boss remarks:

“The FA Cup for me this season started in just my fourth game in charge, when we played Leeds United at Emirates Stadium – and after a first half in which we were outplayed, it was a tough start.

“Thankfully, from the second half in that match we’ve been consistent in producing good performances and I’ve been really proud of the players throughout our run to the Final.

“At Bournemouth, we played a young side who executed a plan perfectly. Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah scored for us and these young players have been fantastic since I came to the club.

“We saw it again at Portsmouth, when a very young side went there, came through a tough period and then took the game away from them. It’s one of those typical English grounds that in a cup tie is tough, really tough – I played in lots of matches like that – but the maturity of a young team got us through.

“By the time we played the quarter final, we were in the new post-lockdown situation and playing at Bramall Lane, which I have to admit was strange as it is another one of those grounds where you expect a lot of noise.

“But I thought we got a deserved win, with a fantastic late goal from Dani Ceballos after it looked like we had been denied the win.

“So this great club had another semi-final at Wembley – and I couldn’t have been happier with the performance against Manchester City. We have a process and we have to trust that, we did and it earned us this win. The performance was superb, including magnificent goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and the level of fight and decision-making couldn’t be faulted against one of the best teams in Europe.

I remember feeling so proud to captain the club to the win in 2014, which was one of the most amazing games I have ever been involved in. Lifting the trophy was one of the great moments of my playing career and I want my current Arsenal players to experience this feeling too. This club deserves the best to reflect our rich history, and we must be fighting for every bit of silverware available.

“It’s also important that we remember why today’s game has been renamed the Heads Up FA Cup Final. We are using the powerful platform of football to encourage people to start a conversation around mental health.

“Myself, Per Mertesacker, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Hector Bellerin joined HRH The Duke of Cambridge for a discussion on the importance of mental health awareness to announce this campaign. Mental health is just as important as our physical health.

“This is something where all of us can make a positive impact, so please remember to be kind to one another and take care of your mind.

“On behalf of the players and staff, we thank all the fans for their continued support. This has been a tough season for the fans not being able to come to matches.

“We cannot wait for everyone to be back at matches when it’s safe to do so. We really appreciate the patience and messages of support that you have given us this season and we hope to make you all proud today”

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

The winner of the FA Cup on Saturday will get £3,600,000, The FA has announced. Chelsea will take on Arsenal in an all-London final and the first final match in 139 editions to be played without crowd attendance.

It is also a repeat of the 2017 final match. The two finalist teams eliminated great Manchester clubs. While Chelsea beat Manchester United, Arsenal eliminated Manchester City in the semifinals.

The losing finalists on Saturday will get £1,800,000, half of what the winners will get. The FA also released what the other participants in the competition will get.

As losers in the semi-finals, each of the Manchester clubs will get £900,000. Below is the table of payments to be made to the clubs.Payments listed round-by-round for 2019-20. Amounts are per club in each round. Numbers in brackets represent the number of winning clubs per round.