Everton v Chelsea FA Cup Final Preview

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If the FA Cup really is the epitome of footballing romance then Everton captain Phil Neville will climb the steps under the Wembley arch on May 30 and collect football’s most famous domestic trophy.

Nothing against Chelsea. You have to respect their power and organisation and the splendid job done by Guus Hiddink since he took over from Luiz Felipe Scolari, even if the lingering fallout from their Champions League exit against Barcelona earlier this month still leaves a bitter taste.

But it is Everton who stir the emotions of the neutrals just for being there for the first time since 1995. For being there while operating on a shoestring compared to the countless millions thrown at Chelsea by owner Roman Abramovich.

For being there after a season in which they have defied all manner of footballing logic. After all, they have played vast swathes of an entire Premier League season in which consistently they have been the best of the rest outside the ‘big four’ without a recognised striker.

Everton is a club whose manager has built a side which is so much more than the sum of its individuals. Players such as Neville and Steven Pienaar and Joleon Lescott and Tim Cahill epitomise the feeling of Everton togetherness which perhaps is the Merseyside club’s most potent weapon in the face of superior skill.

But will it be enough? Can dedication and the snap of an underdog prevail against a Chelsea side of real power?

It is possible, though unlikely, and it could depend on the differing emotions Chelsea players might take into the final.

Could it be Didier Drogba’s last match for the club in the light of his manic protests following the semi-final Champions League defeat against Barcelona? Could it prove to be a last hurrah for the Chelsea thirty-somethings who have failed to bring Abramovich the big prize?

With manager Guus Hiddink due to end his temporary assignment and return to preparing Russia for next year’s World Cup uncertainty swirls around Stamford Bridge. Yet they still have a central core of goalkeeper Petr Cech, captain John Terry and midfielders Frank Lampard and Michael Essien on whom they can rely. Natural winners.

They are not the prettiest team and their presence in the final does not thrill the footballing purists.

But the 2009 final is a genuine heavyweight contest. One which will fill Wembley with passion and noise, even if 40,000 seats have gone to the corporate market to help pay the FA’s bills for the stadium.

Chelsea represent foreign money and Premier League pragmatism. Everton represent traditional values, a little memory jerker of how it used to be when they were one of the elite clubs in England, winning the trophy in 1906, 1933, 1966, 1984 and 1995.

The heart says it would be wonderful to see a respected professional such as Neville wrapping his arms around the FA Cup. The head, however, says that, measured in natural ability, not one Everton player would find his way into Hiddink’s team.

Which is why I go for Chelsea by the odd goal in the tightest of finals.

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