2018 FA WSL Cup final

Arsenal's journey to the final began in the Group Stage, where they were drawn against Reading - who would go on to be a close rival in the league - as well as mostly lower-half FA WSL 2 teams London Bees, Millwall Lionesses and Watford. Games against the former and the latter would turn out to be easy and result in large winning margins,[2][3] while a high-scoring away match against Millwall would result in a 5–2 victory.[4] The goals scored in these matches would still not ultimately prove enough to secure Arsenal first place in their group, however, as the home tie against Reading finished with a disappointing 2–1 loss,[5] and Arsenal qualified for the knock-outs in second behind their WSL 1 rival.

Progressing through to the quarter-finals Arsenal were drawn against Group One North winners Sunderland at home, who they would proceed to defeat by a two-goal margin in what would be new manager Joe Montemurro's first game.[6]

They would then come up against Group Stage opponents Reading for a second time, this time being drawn away to the Berkshire team in the semi-finals. Once again they did not find their opponents easy, going down by a goal on two occasions before two late goals put them on top and through to the final.[7]

In contrast to Arsenal, Manchester City were given a tougher Group Stage challenge with previous finalist Birmingham City, fellow WSL 1 team Everton and 2016 WSL 1 side Doncaster Rovers Belles joining City in a group which also featured WSL 2 mid-table side Oxford United. In their first game City defeated Oxford by six clear goals[8] before fighting to a late home victory by the odd goal in three against Everton.[9] A third victory was clocked up in their home match against Birmingham with two first half goals settling the tie to give City an early qualification for the next phase[10] and the Group Stage was wrapped up in a 3–2 away win over Doncaster which saw three goals in four second half minutes.[11]

Having qualified for the knock-out rounds with a perfect record, City were drawn against Group Two South runners-up Bristol City, whose men's team would meet City's own male contingent in the latter stages of their own league cup less than a month later, but defeated them by a slightly more comfortable two goals to nil.[12]

In their semi-final, City were then drawn away again to Chelsea, pitting together the only two teams in English women's football with undefeated records by the half-way point of the season. In their first meeting of 2017–18 City were triumphant by a single early goal from debutant Nadia Nadim, putting them through to a third final in four seasons.[13]