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Thibaut Courtois warns Arsenal that Chelsea are primed for a shot at history

Thibaut Courtois warns Arsenal that Chelsea are primed for a shot at history

Thibaut Courtois has warned Arsenal that Chelsea’s players are determined to cement their names in the record books by winning the FA Cup Final.

The feat of securing the League and FA Cup Double has been done 11 times, and by seven clubs in total, since 1889.

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Chelsea, who have already secured the title this term, were the last club to achieve the landmark — back in 2010.

Courtois told Standard Sport: "This is an opportunity to go down in history. I don’t think many players have won the Double in England. One trophy is done, now it’s time to get the other.

"The FA Cup was a goal of ours. We have gone for it from the start. It’s been hard with Manchester United in the quarter-final and a massive game against Tottenham in the semi-final.

"Now we have another tough match but we feel confident and we want to end the season in a special way."

Courtois says the memory of losing 3-0 against Arsenal in September has provided an added motivation ahead of the Wembley showdown.

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Conte’s men go into tomorrow’s match as firm favourites. They won the League title with three matches to spare and beat tomorrow’s opponents comfortably the last time they met — 3-1 at Stamford Bridge in February.

Courtois, however, says the players are still haunted by the manner of their display at Emirates Stadium eight months ago. “That game against in September was bad,” said the Chelsea goalkeeper. "We lost 3-0 that day and we obviously don’t want to lose against them again now.

"It was a wake-up call that we couldn’t allow what happened the previous year [Chelsea finished 10th in the League] to happen again. We know as a team we are stronger than Arsenal and are confident but we can’t underestimate them or think we will win easily."

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It was during that defeat that Conte switched to three at the back for the first time — a decision that turned Chelsea’s season around. They won 13 successive League games after that to take control of the title race and were never caught.

Courtois added: "If we hadn’t lost so badly, maybe we wouldn’t have switched to the back three. It was partly because of Arsenal and partly because we were not doing well."

Wenger’s side go into the game having won eight of their last nine matches but hampered by the absence of centre-backs Laurent Koscielny (suspended), Gabriel (knee) and possibly Shkodran Mustafi with concussion.