The 2019 FA WSL Cup Final was the eighth final of the

FA WSL Cup The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. ...

, England's secondary cup competition for

women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football (hannah jones ). Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's ...

teams and its primary

league cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

tournament. It took place on the 23 February 2019, at

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall family of file and graver manufacturers. ...

, contested by

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

, the only two teams to have ever won the tournament. Arsenal had competed in all but one of the previous finals, winning five. Manchester City had appeared in three of the last four, securing the trophy twice. The final was a rerun of the 2018 final, which was won by Arsenal by a goal to nil, while both teams also met in the final in 2014 when Manchester City won by the only goal.

Route to the final

Arsenal

Drawn again - as with the previous season - against mostly second-tier opposition, plus WSL mid-table side

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium ...

, Arsenal improved on their second-place finish in the 2017–18 group stage with a dominating series of results to top their group having secured all twelve points, the high note being an away 9–0 win over

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre ...

in which both

Kim Little Kim Alison Little (born 29 June 1990) is a Scottish footballer who plays as a midfielder for and captains Arsenal of the English FA WSL. Before her retirement from international duty in 2021, Little was vice-captain of the Scotland women's nat ...

and

Vivianne Miedema Anna Margaretha Marina Astrid "Vivianne" Miedema (; born 15 July 1996) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward for FA Women's Super League (FA WSL) club Arsenal and the Netherlands national team. She previously played for Ba ...

scored hattricks. The quarter-finals saw Arsenal paired with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, a team only a few paces behind in the WSL title race with three previous WSL Cup final appearances to their names, including two against Arsenal. A tight match saw Birmingham take the lead, but an injury time goal from Miedema would ultimately settle the tie in Arsenal's favour. The semi-final matched Arsenal against the resurrected

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, who had been performing beyond their second division status all season. An all-Manchester final was prevented, however, as Arsenal took control of the match to seal their place with two more goals from Miedema.

Manchester City

In the group stages, Manchester City again found themselves matched with title challengers

, along with

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

and three

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

sides, playing one more game than Arsenal by virtue of the increased number of teams competing in the tournament compared with the previous season. Their campaign began slowly as they were only able to prevail against Birmingham City on penalties, meaning they would only take two points out of a possible three. With the toughest match already out of the way, they would go on to win all of their remaining games, scoring 17 goals and conceding none in the process. Their quarter-final against

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

would prove to be their highest-scoring in the cup competition, with an initially slow match bursting into life in the closing stages as four goals were scored after the 85th minute. The match drew extra journalistic attention as it came barely 24 hours after Manchester City's men's team had themselves scored nine goals in their own League Cup tie. Manchester City's place in the final would ultimately be assured by the work of Nikita Parris, who scored both goals as they defeated the reigning WSL champions Chelsea, giving them their fourth finals appearance in the previous five competitions.

Match

Details

References

{{Manchester City W.F.C. matches

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, c ...

FA Women's Super League Cup finals FA WSL Cup Final WSLC 2019 FA WSL Cup Final, 2019 FA WSL Cup Final 2019