Today marks the FA Cup Final in the world of Letou Choose, Stoke City vs. Swansea City.
I’m not going to go in-depth about our past meetings (they beat us 3 – 1 at the bet365 Stadium and we beat them 2 – 0 at our place), recent games (both come into this on the back of last day league wins) and who their big hitters are because you should know by now.
I’ve gone with the same 3-5-2 that worked so well against West Bromwich Albion in the final day of Premier League fixtures as we ran out easy 4 – 1 victors. The team is the same, except for the one tough decision I had to make. Jordan Ayew has earned the right with 24 goals this season to start up front but who would his partner be?
Wilfried Bony and Tammy Abraham both put a good case forward with performances against West Brom but in the end the stats don’t lie. Abraham has 15 goals to Bony’s 13 and a whole load more assists (12 – 3) so he gets the starting place but expect to see Bony at some point on the pitch. The one squad member left out is Wayne Routledge. Injured under Stuart Reid at the start of the season and never a regular for myself, I’d rather have the likes of Narsingh and Fer on the bench.
For Stoke, their entire team is fit aside from Geoff Cameron with a bruised head. The scouting report says they are strong at the back with Jack Butland, Kurt Zouma in central defence and Francis Coquelin patrolling as a defensive midfielder.
That’s the end of this preview. There really isn’t a lot else to say. Everything has come down to this.
Join us on @FMDaily_ from 2:45pm for live coverage of the FA Cup Final and whatever you do, wish us luck.