On this day (May 20) in 2000, Aston Villa lost 1-0 to Chelsea in the FA Cup final, courtesy of an error from David James. The Villa goalkeeper dropped a free-kick that landed in the path of Roberto Di Matteo and the Chelsea man made no mistake from close range.
While a horrible way to lose a final, Villa rode their luck numerous times at Wembley. Dennis Wise had a goal controversially disallowed and George Weah missed a sitter minutes later, so Chelsea will feel the best team won regardless of how it happened.
Villa have featured in only two FA Cup finals since the turn of the millennium (Arsenal in 2015 and Chelsea in 2000), losing both.
They’ve been knocked out in the third round of the competition for five seasons on the bounce (4-1 to Liverpool in 2021, 2-1 to Fulham in 2020, 3-0 to Swansea City in 2019, 3-1 to Peterborough United in 2018 and 2-0 to Tottenham in 2017), so they’re lightyears away from making it to Wembley again.
In other news, the last time Aston Villa beat Tottenham Hotspur in North London
