The 129th edition of the oldest knockout competition in football, the FA Cup, concludes this weekend, with English Premier League champions Chelsea taking on league bottom-feeders Portsmouth at Wembley Stadium.

Portsmouth boss Avram Grant is proud of his clubThe FA Cup is well-known for minnows gobbling up whales, and although Portsmouth FC could hardly be considered a minnow, at least not in the traditional FA Cup sense, they are certainly a much smaller fish then their opponents this weekend, Chelsea.

Chelsea are looking to repeat the FA Cup Final success of last season when they beat Everton 2-1. And as new Premier League champions, a win on Saturday would give the Blues their first ever, and much sought after, “double,” the Premier League and the FA Cup in the same season.

Portsmouth, on the other hand, would be delighted to cap off their miserable season with another FA Cup. But this is a vastly different side from the one that beat Cardiff City 1-0 in the 2008 final. The south coast club is now relegated to the League Championship level of football and has undergone a topsy-turvy campaign dominated by a fiasco of financial woes.
 

 

Grant in awe

Despite their problems Pompey have shown themselves resilient at key moments and throughout their season-long ordeal manager Avram Grant has kept his men focused on football.

Grant still seems awed by it all. "When I look from the outside I don't believe it. It's impossible. How can we do it this year, go to Wembley with so much pride with our heads held high?”

Wins over Liverpool in the league and Tottenham in the FA Cup this season have shown that the south coast squad are capable from time-to-time. In general, however, it’s been a dismal campaign. In their last 10 matches Pompey won just two, with five losses and three draws. And in that 10 game stretch they scored just 10 goals, with 19 against.

In FA Cup action, however, Pompey managed 13 goals for and only four against in a six game stretch. What is to be made of this statistic going into the FA Cup Final? Perhaps that they can rise to an occasion.  

Pompey’s Road to the Final

Like all other Premier League clubs Pompey entered this year’s FA Cup at the Third Round Proper, where they dispatched Coventry City, though not without a replay and extra time to boot. The Fourth Round matched them up with Premier League side Sunderland, whom they beat 2-1. In the Fifth Round Pompey thumped bitter south coast rivals Southampton 1-4. The Sixth Round matched Pompey up with another Premier League side, Birmingham City, whom they beat 2-0.

Most remarkable of all, however, was Pompey’s FA Cup Semi-Final vanquishing of Tottenham, whom they beat 0-2 in extra time at Wembley.

Ancelotti cautious

Anyone who saw the Tottenham-Portsmouth Semi-Final could have been forgiven for wondering how a team that could play like Pompey did that day could also get themselves relegated in the same season. 

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti might have been asking that question. "We have to respect Portsmouth,” said the Italian. “They are relegated but they beat Tottenham and played very well and they deserve to play in this game."

Such is the dichotomy that a relegated, yet occasionally potent, Portsmouth presents to Chelsea this weekend.

Yet that dichotomy is unlikely to intimidate the Londoners. They are a squad that grew stronger as the Premier League wound down over the past few weeks. Of their final 10 league matches the Blues won eight, with one loss and a draw. And in that stretch they scored 38 goals allowing only six.

Chelsea’s Road to the Final

In their five FA Cup matches leading up to the Final Chelsea gave up just a single goal. That was in a 4-1 victory over Cardiff City in the Fifth Round. Their march to Wembley also included a 5-0 destruction of Watford in the Third Round, a 0-2 win over Preston North End in the Fourth Round, the aforementioned Cardiff City result in the Fifth Round, then a 2-0 win over Stoke in the sixth, followed by a 0-3 Semi-Final victory over Aston Villa.

Frankly it’s difficult to imagine Portsmouth winning this weekend. They are outclassed man-for-man to be sure, and also as a team.

And yet it may be injuries that prove the most significant factor on Saturday.

Injuries

Chelsea will be missing midfielders Michael Essien and Jon Obi-Mikel as well as defender Jose Bosingwa. Defender Ricardo Carvalho remains a doubt as does Branislav Ivanovic.

England international defender John Terry suffered a foot injury in training earlier this week. At first a broken bone was feared. That put a scare into Chelsea fans, as well as England manager Fabio Capello. But reports out of London late in the week make it apparent that Terry will be available on Saturday.

This is great news for Chelsea, but not so good for Portsmouth, whose squad has been devastated by injuries. Indeed, Portsmouth’s invalids alone could field a reserve squad. Among the defenders, Hreidarsson is out, Wilson and Belhadj are doubtful, and Makoena and Ben Haim are questionable. Midfielder Hughes is out and fellow midfielders O'Hara and Yebda are doubtful. Among the strikers Webber is out and Dindane doubtful.

Swan Song 

An FA Cup and league double for Chelsea would surely go far to dig the club and Carlo Ancelotti outChelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti would like the double from under the shadow of Jose Mourinho, although the stigma of crashing out of the Champions League to the Special One’s Inter will likely linger awhile. Chelsea clearly have the firepower in 29-goal Didier Drogba and 22-goal Frank Lampard among others to dispatch last-place Portsmouth unceremoniously.

Yet Ancelotti is quite right to offer up a note of caution to his squad.

Regardless what happens on Saturday Portsmouth can, as manager Avram Grant has suggested, hold their heads high. They’ve had a few good results this season and their road to the FA Cup Final has been quite remarkable. Wembley on Saturday will be their last opportunity to shine on the highest level of the national football stage for a while, and they’ll make the best of it.

But Chelsea is the opponent, after all, so Pompey's Premier League swan song is likely to be a sad one.