The final and the replay were held atWembley Stadium. | |||||||
| Event | 1992–93 FA Cup | ||||||
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| Arsenal won after areplay | |||||||
| Final | |||||||
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| Afterextra time | |||||||
| Date | 15 May 1993 | ||||||
| Venue | Wembley Stadium,London | ||||||
| Referee | Keren Barratt (Warwickshire) | ||||||
| Attendance | 79,347 | ||||||
| Replay | |||||||
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| Afterextra time | |||||||
| Date | 20 May 1993 | ||||||
| Venue | Wembley Stadium,London | ||||||
| Referee | Keren Barratt (Warwickshire) | ||||||
| Attendance | 62,267 | ||||||
←1992 1994 → | |||||||
The1993 FA Cup final was contested byArsenal andSheffield Wednesday atWembley. The original match, played on 15 May 1993, finished 1–1. Arsenal won the replay on 20 May, 2–1 after extra-time.
It was Arsenal's sixth FA Cup final victory, and their first since the1979 FA Cup final. They became the first English side to achieve adomestic cup double, having also won the1993 Football League Cup final.
It was Sheffield Wednesday's first appearance in the FA Cup finalsince 1966. They also reached the League Cup final that season, also losing 2–1 to Arsenal (though without a replay). This appearance of the same two sides in the final of both of England's domestic knock-out tournaments in the same season had never happened before, and would be the only time until 2022. Sheffield Wednesday have not appeared in a domestic cup final since, reaching two League Cup semi-finals since then.
The replay saw the last Arsenal appearance by veteran defenderDavid O'Leary, who left shortly afterwards to joinLeeds United, after an 18-year spell with Arsenal which had yielded 722 competitive games and six major trophies.
Arsenal took the lead in the 20th minute, whenIan Wright headed in a cross. Sheffield Wednesday equalised in the 61st minute, whenDavid Hirst turned in a low drive, past the advancing Arsenal goalkeeper,David Seaman.
The kick-off for the replay was delayed by 30 minutes after an accident on theM1 motorway had delayed the arrival of most of Sheffield Wednesday's fans.[1]
Once again,Ian Wright opened the scoring for Arsenal, running onto a through ball to prod the ball pastChris Woods, into the corner of the net. This was his fourth goal in FA Cup finals atWembley, just one behind the record-holderIan Rush. Wednesday attacked Arsenal in the second half, andChris Waddle's shot deflected off Arsenal defenderLee Dixon into the net in the 68th minute.
The game went into extra time, and with two minutes of the second half remaining, central defenderAndy Linighan scored with a header from aPaul Merson corner.[2] GoalkeeperChris Woods fumbled andGraham Hyde could only help the ball into the top of the net. Linighan had played most of the game with a broken nose afterMark Bright had struck him in the face with his elbow.[3][4]
The two clubs had already contested the season'sLeague Cup final, a match which Arsenal had won 2–1. It was the first time that the same two clubs had reached the final of both domestic club competitions.
It was also dubbed the 'longest' FA Cup final.[by whom?] It had gone to extra-time in the replay – a match which was delayed by thirty minutes – and was just one minute away from the first ever FA Cup final penalty shoot-out. It was also the last FA Cup final to go to a replay; from 1999 onwards, it was decided that all FA Cup finals would be decided on the day.
This was the first FA Cup final in whichsquad numbers had been used, having been trialled in the League Cup final. Players from both clubs retained the same numbers for the three matches. The system was fully adopted by thePremier League for the following season.
For Arsenal,David O'Leary played his last two official matches after joining the club as an apprentice in 1973. His testimonial took place between the final and the replay, on 17 May 1993. During extra time in the replay,Alan Smith received the only yellow card of his professional career.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Arsenal | ![]() ![]() ![]() Sheffield Wednesday |
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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Arsenal | ![]() ![]() ![]() Sheffield Wednesday |
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