Saturday 1 August 2020

FA Cup Final 2020

Don't believe everything you read about the FA Cup Final today. Whoever wrote the above somehow missed out on the Finals of 1975 West Ham United v Fulham, 1980 West Ham United v Arsenal, 1982 Tottenham Hotspur v Queens Park Rangers, plus the two Arsenal v Chelsea finals already this millennium. Other than that, sure, it's been 53 years...  

London clubs have actually dominated the FA Cup in the Premier League era with only seven of the 29 Finals not featuring a London club.

Three Finals have been all-London matches, and 16 Cup wins have gone to London (Arsenal 9, Chelsea 7). 

While Crystal Palace and West Ham United have both made an appearance, (both with Alan Pardew as manager), it's rather an oddity that Tottenham Hotspur haven't appeared in a Final since 1991.

It's the third Arsenal v Chelsea Final today following those of 2002 and 2017 both of which were won by Arsenal but it's Chelsea who are favourites this time, although that status didn't help them in 2017.
The H or A actually refers to the Favourite or Underdog and while the Draw is the most profitable outcome, three of the five came before 2008. 

On the other hand, in matches where neither club is odds-on, as is the case today, 50% of the (four) games ended in a Draw. 

Including FA Cup Semi-Finals, which are also neutral, we have a rather unusual situation where backing every outcome would have been positive (the result of a small sample and a couple of long-priced winners for the Draw and Underdog):


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