Katie Chapman is spoilt for choice when it comes to career highlights but the FA Cup will always be special for the former Chelsea captain.

It beautifully bookends her time as a player, with the first and last of 10 winner’s medals in her illustrious career also charting the growth of the women’s game.

The last time Chapman got her hands on the trophy was in 2018 as Blues skipper in her final FA Cup appearance, the then 35-year-old midfielder starring in front of a raucous record-breaking Wembley crowd of 45,423.

The first was as a 14-year-old schoolgirl playing for Millwall in a 1-0 win over Wembley in front of 3,015 fans at West Ham United’s old Boleyn Ground home.

On Sunday, Chapman returns to England’s national stadium for the delayed 2021 final still working for the club as an ambassador, but first and foremost she will be one of thousands of Chelsea supporters desperately hoping we beat Arsenal - another of her former teams - just as we did in our last FA Cup final.

‘I will absolutely be a fan, making a lot of noise,’ Chapman said. ‘It will be a great day.

‘I am taking my children and my dad’s going. It’s a great showcase for women’s football. The FA Cup is special and the atmosphere will be electric. I would get tickets and get down there.

‘I played in the last final we played there at Wembley and it was an unbelievable game.’

Chapman said all her FA Cup finals were ‘great’ but the two mentioned stood out.

‘The first one I won at Millwall set me on my way,’ she added. ‘I wanted more of it and more medals.

‘And obviously the last one, being captain of Chelsea in such a great game.

‘As captain, I didn’t have any doubt we were going to win that game. It felt right and the team was ready; everyone was in it.’

That day in 2018, two stunning strikes from Ramona Bachmann put us in control with an equally wonderful curling effort from Fran Kirby sealing a 3-1 victory in front of the biggest-ever crowd in the competition.

Ex-England international Chapman retired at the end of that season and has found the transition from player to fan more challenging than expected.

‘I have hated watching every single game since I’ve retired,’ she joked. ‘It’s difficult not playing. I miss the adrenalin of playing - the competing side.

‘To play for that trophy and to play at Wembley - the home of English football - is a dream come true.

‘When I used to play in the Cup final as a captain I used to think ‘I want to be the one going up those stairs’. That was my vision; no one was going to walk up those stairs and get that trophy before me. That was my incentive.

‘I am just upset I am not playing in it. I am going to be the worst fan in the world!’

Sunday’s opponents Arsenal are the only team to have beaten us so far this season - in our first game of the WSL season.

However, Chapman is confident the loss will spur us on and manager Emma Hayes can guide us to the third Women’s FA Cup success in our history.

Chapman said: ‘It will be an unbelievable game because I know Chelsea will want to get revenge because of the first game of the season.

‘That will give them more hunger.

‘For me as a player, knowing I have lost that game at the start of the season means I am thinking, ‘This is revenge’.

‘Over the past few weeks the players have had lots of games but Emma has the advantage because in terms of the squad she has done well with that.

‘She has used her squad really, really well so has been able to rest players and they haven’t got many injuries at all.’

Whoever plays at Wembley will sense the importance of the occasion, Chapman said.

‘Mentally and physically you have to get yourself ready for the game, do whatever you need to do individually,’ she added.

‘The nerves start a bit when you are on the bus. Once you walk out and see the stadium, the pitch and the fans and crowd - what a feeling.

‘I was always excited. I had a little bit of nerves but it was great because I knew when I had those nerves and I controlled them, I was going to have a good game.’

As for Sunday, Chapman fully expects to miss being on the playing side, but is sure a side likely to feature many of her former team-mates can lift the trophy.

She said: ‘The team was my family so I feel like I have lost part of my family by not being in that environment.

‘But working for the club is great and pushing the women’s game forward is even better.'

Chapman believes the wealth of attacking talent at our disposal could be the difference between the top two teams in the country.

‘Sam [Kerr] and Fran have had a big influence and Pernille [Harder] can get a goal from anywhere,’ she said.

‘Jessie Fleming has proved her worth in the team and Erin Cuthbert is doing really, really well.

‘Chelsea are firing on all cylinders.’

Tickets for this Sunday’s Vitality FA Cup final at Wembley are on sale and can be purchased here.