Frank Lampard believes that Chelsea will be favourites to beat Arsenal in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday.
However the Stamford Bridge legend is anticipating Arsene Wenger’s side to put up a very strong fight against the Premier League champions.
A win for the Gunners on Saturday would see Wenger win his seventh FA Cup title – which would equal the amount that Chelsea have won in their entire history.
Lampard won the competition four times in his playing days at The Bridge but is wary that his old side might not be able to complete a domestic double.
“Chelsea will be favourites because of what they’ve done this season, but I don’t think you can take too much into account going into a final because they can go against the norm,” said Lampard, as quoted by Chelsea’s official website.
“It’s about performance on the day, they can be very tense affairs and I didn’t particularly enjoy my finals in terms of the playing moments because you’re so desperate to win them and not lose.
“I think it could be a tight game; Chelsea are favourites on paper and rightly so, but they’ll have to perform on the day to overcome an Arsenal side who have strength in their team.”
Chelsea are likely to go into the fixture on a high on the back of lifting the Premier League trophy after the 5-1 win over Sunderland last week.
Arsenal have also enjoyed good form as of late but took a major blow on the last day of the league season as they missed out on a spot in next season’s Champions League despite an impressive 3-1 win against Everton.
The Gunners have won just two of their last meetings with Chelsea in all competitions. However the most recent came earlier this season in a 3-0 thrashing of Antonio Conte’s men at the Emirates when Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil all found the net.