Chelsea edge past Aston Villa thanks to Sam Kerr header which sets up Man Utd Women’s FA Cup final clash

Sam Kerr’s second-half goal kept Chelsea’s treble hopes alive as they edged past Aston Villa 1-0 to reach the women’s FA Cup final.

Chelsea are looking for a third consecutive FA Cup triumph and will play Manchester United at Wembley Stadium on May 14.

United had a dramatic 3-2 victory over Brighton on Saturday as Rachel Williams’ 89th minute effort gave the WSL leaders the win.

“It was a difficult pitch, ugly game, what I expected,” Chelsea manager Emma Hayes told the BBC.

“We took the goal when we were on top, and then we dropped off and Villa made it a brilliant cup tie. Of course, [we are] delighted to be in the final.

“The pitch made it really, really challenging for the players to get a grip. There’s not a lot of grass in that penalty box. For that reason, it made it tricky. Nonetheless, we took the goal at the right moment.”

It took 12 minutes for the first shot of the game when Chelsea captain Magda Eriksson headed a fine corner into the hands of Hannah Hampton.

Lauren James and Eve Perisset both missed chances for the Blues in the first half as Villa looked much better compared to their 3-0 defeat in the league to Chelsea two weeks ago.

Jelena Cankovic struck the crossbar immediately after half-time, then Kerr made the breakthrough with a great header at the far post after great work from Cankovic and Guro Reiten.

Chelsea began to sit deeper and deeper as the match progressed but Villa struggled to create chances.

Alisha Lehmann had an effort which went across the face of the goal and Kenza Dali had an attempt that went well over the bar.

Kirsty Hanson also caused Chelsea a couple of problems near the end, but Villa were unable to find the back of the net.

Chelsea are on course for an unprecedented treble from an English team as they sit second in the WSL, but with a game in hand on United and are only one point behind, are in the Champions League semi-finals against Barcelona and now have an FA Cup final to look forward to.

The first leg of their eagerly-anticipated tie against Barcelona takes place next Saturday.