The 2021 FA Cup final: a match worthy of the return of fans

After a year of football without fans, of fake crowd noise blaring out of the TV, of player’s shouts echoing around the stadium, the light at the end of the tunnel finally seems to be shining through, with 20,000 fans packing into Wembley Stadium for this year’s iteration of the FA Cup final.

Although fans briefly returned towards the back-end of 2020, that return was on a miniscule scale compared to this and, with lockdown and restrictions set to end once and for all on 21 June, it appears that sport’s isolation period is finally coming to an end.

And what an event to herald the return to sporting normality: the FA Cup final. With all the furore that has gone on in the sporting world over the past year, with Covid-19 and the European Super League dominating attention, the FA Cup has been something of a sideshow, only flitting through the periphery of your vision as the rest of the world flashes past.

However, the two teams that have managed to reach the final, Chelsea and Leicester City, are relatively equally matched, and should put on a show that the return of the fans deserves.

Under Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea have been revitalised in recent times, surging up the table and reaching a Champions League final that few would have thought possible following the stagnation under Frank Lampard at the start of the season. Tuchel’s tactical nous has been at the centre of this revival, moulding a 3-4-3 system that works to his player’s strengths, with N’Golo Kanté and Thiago Silva particularly brilliant in providing a solid base off which the likes of Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech and even Timo Werner can build.

The game is not the same without spectators. I think it’s a huge boost for everybody

– Thomas Tuchel

Despite Chelsea’s strength, it is impossible to write off Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City, who have become a force to be reckoned with under the Northern Irishman’s stewardship, challenging for the Champions League places last season, and in third place at the time of writing this year. Their recruitment has, as always, been exemplary, as the likes of Wesley Fofana and Timothy Castagne have been added to the firepower they already had with Wilfried Ndidi and the effervescent Jamie Vardy. The recent surge in form of Kelechi Iheanacho is also testament to Rodgers’ man-management skills, uniting a squad of disparate personalities to make them into more than the sum of their parts.

This final will be followed within four days by another match-up between the two teams, a match vital in the Champions League qualification race, and a turn-up Tuchel has classed as “the final of the cup [followed by] the final for the top four”.

The two sides, placed third and fourth in the Premier League table currently, will therefore go head-to-head across the two games in a four-day spell that could define each of their seasons which, although eventful, have been somewhat marred by the absence of fans who do so much to make the game we love what it is.

On the return of the fans Tuchel commented: “The game is not the same without spectators, it’s pure pleasure to arrive tomorrow and see our fans there and parts of our families. I think it’s a huge boost for everybody.”

Tuchel’s Chelsea will undoubtedly be the slight favourites heading into the game, unbeaten in seven cup ties against Leicester and on the better run of form, but Leicester, off the back of an impressive win at Old Trafford, should never be written off, with the team capable of beating any opposition.

Whatever the result, however, what will be the most joyous sight for fans across the country will be the waves of blue heading up Wembley Way, as real football finally returns.

Team news:

Kepa Arrizabalaga will start for Chelsea, while N’Golo Kanté has managed to shake off an Achilles injury ahead of the game. Mateo Kovacic and Andreas Christensen miss out, however.

Jonny Evans, James Maddison and Ricardo Pereira are doubts for Leicester, who are otherwise injury free for the final.