Winning physical battles key for Chelsea in FA Cup final says Rytting Kaneryd | OneFootball

Chelsea midfielder Johanna Rytting Kaneryd says that winning the physical battles will be key in this weekend’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup final against Manchester United.

The Blues contest the showpiece with The Red Devils at Wembley Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Chelsea have won both of the league meetings by a single goal and midfielder Rytting Kaneryd says that winning the physical battles will be key to the South West Londoners coming out on top again.

“We need to stick to the basics,” Rytting Kaneryd told WSL Full-Time. “We know they’re a physical team, so we need to win our duels. If we start with getting the basics right, we know how good we are as a team.

“The last game that we played against them, we were not at our best. We know they’re a physical team but if we win that aspect of the game, we can work from there. It’s at Wembley, there will be a lot of fans and we can grow from that. It’s a big opportunity for us to show what Chelsea is about.

“We can win in different ways, it’s a strength that we have in this team. Even if we haven’t played at our best lately, we will find a way somehow. We want to improve and play like we know we can, so hopefully we can play a lot of positive, attacking football.”

Victory this weekend would see Chelsea seal just their second domestic treble, the feat having previously been achieved in 2021. Rytting Kaneryd says that becoming treble winners again would represent a big success.

She said “Of course, it would be a big achievement. Speaking for all of us, we want to win as many titles as we can. We really want to end the season on a high.

“I know we didn’t win the Champions League but three trophies isn’t bad. Everyone wants to win, that’s the Chelsea culture. The goals are very clear.”

Chelsea ended the Barclays Women’s Super League season with a tag of ‘invincibles’ after they avoided defeat throughout the whole campaign. Rytting Kaneryd says that the team can take confidence from that achievement going into this weekend.

She said “It’s a big boost [staying unbeaten]. The goal was very clear from the staff; we wanted to be unbeaten in the league this year. After beating Liverpool, we can now go into the FA Cup final with a lot of confidence.

“It’s an important game. We may have won the league already but we still have the same goal.”

The 2024/2025 Adobe Women’s FA Cup final takes place at Wembley Stadium at 1.30pm on Sunday afternoon. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.