FA Cup final

Portsmouth V Cardiff

An amazing FA Cup comes to an end today and to be fair to everyone I don’t think many would have expected either of the finalists to get this far.
Lets start with Portsmouth first, They have beaten four Championship sides – Ipswich, Plymouth, Preston and West Brom on the way to the final though and with Lauren (three medals), Sol Campbell (two) and Kanu (two) on board they have the advantage in terms of experience.
Their final few matches in the season will have been an area of concern though as they lost four in a row and failed to score for the last five-and-a-half hours.
Jermaine Defoe is cup tied and his absence is a huge loss, considering his impact since he arrived at the club.
Cardiff will aim to be the first team outside the top flight to win the FA Cup since West Ham way back in 1980. The bluebirds have the one title, which came way back in 1927.
When you compare the path of each team to the final it is hard to make a big case for Cardiff, the only premiership team they beat along the way was Middlesborough who froze on the day compared to Pompeys run which included wins over Ipswich, Plymouth and the Baggies, teams who all finished above Cardiff in the league.
The only Cardiff players to have experienced a final before are veteran strikers Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Robbie Fowler, the latter who hasn’t played since December.

Verdict
When all is said and done this is still a final and anything is possible. Nobody has given Cardiff a sniff here and Portsmouth have been favourites for a long time now. In terms of experience Pompey have a crucial advantage and this may be a huge factor today. All their players have played on big occasions before and while it may be a bit unfair to say that Cardiff will buckle under the pressure, it will be very interesting to see how they cope with the thought of a packed stadium and millions watching on tv’s around the world.
Id expect a slow cautious start from both sides here and we may have to wait a while before things open up. Eventually though I expect Portsmouth’s class and experience to show through.


Two selections for me here

Draw HT/ Portsmouth FT- 4.5 @ bet365 (2 points)
Portsmouth win – 1.73 @ bet365 ( 6 points)