The Continental Cup was founded in 2011. Of the past 12 editions of the Cup, Arsenal have won six of them, the last of which was the 2017-18 season. Arsenal made it to the finals in both the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons but lost to Manchester City and Chelsea respectively. Speaking of Chelsea, the team has made it to the finals for the past four seasons, winning the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons back-to-back.
The final was on Sunday 5 March at Selhurst Park and was refereed by Kirsty Dowle. Chelsea's Sam Kerr kicked off the game by scoring a goal in the first two minutes. Striker Stina Blackstenius scored Arsenal's first goal 16 minutes in. This was followed by a penalty goal from Arsenal captain Kim Little, bringing the score to 2-1. During the extra time of the first half, the ball deflected off Chelsea's defender Niamh Charles scoring an own-goal. Despite tactical changes made by Chelsea manager Emma Hayes, the team could not close the gap in the second half and Arsenal won.
Arsenal's win marks the first trophy for Arsenal under coach Jonas Eidevall. The last major trophy for the team was the 2019 Barclay's FA Women's Super League.
These are the games we want to play. To get results creates belief.
jonas Eidevall
Both Chelsea and Arsenal entered the Cup at the quarter-final stage due to being exempt because of their participation in the Champions League group stage. Both teams dominated their quarter-final matches with Arsenal winning 3-0 against Aston Villa and Chelsea winning 3-1 over Tottenham Hotspur. Their dominance continued into their semi-final matches as Arsenal won 1-0 against Manchester City and Chelsea won 7-0 over West Ham.
Eidevall has told BBC One that "These are the games we want to play. To get results creates belief. It was really important to get that reward and now we can be filled with belief for for all games going forward."
Despite the three successive wins as the Women's Super League titles, Chelsea has now suffered back-to-back defeats in the League Cup finals. Manager Hayes commented: "Everything has to be top class and today it was not at Chelsea standard. Sometimes you have to lose games like this to be reminded."
