Chelsea versus Manchester United is always a special fixture, and there are not one but two such contests to look forward to in the coming days.

Enzo Maresca’s Blues face the Reds at Stamford Bridge on Friday evening in a crucial Premier League clash, and then at Wembley on Sunday, the Women’s FA Cup final takes centre stage as we aim to secure a domestic treble in Sonia Bompastor’s first season in charge.

Between those games, Manchester City play Crystal Palace for the right to be crowned the 2025 men’s FA Cup winners, and here we link this upcoming trio of matches by reflecting on our FA Cup final past with Man United using artefacts from the Chelsea Museum.

Of course, Manchester United’s home, Old Trafford, will always have a special place in our hearts. It was there in 1970 that Chelsea won the FA Cup for the first time. A traffic sign directing supporters towards the ground is in the museum’s dedicated FA Cup cabinet.

We would have to wait a generation before reaching English football’s showpiece fixture once again. Twenty-four years after Ron Harris lifted the trophy at Old Trafford, we were eventually well beaten by Man United in the Wembley rain.

It drew the line on player-manager Glenn Hoddle’s first season in charge of the Blues. Although there was no silverware to show for it, the progress made under Hoddle's leadership signalled a change of intent at Chelsea.

Genuine superstars arrived, cup runs became common, and crowds at the Bridge grew. A shirt Hoddle wore during 1993/94, a season in which he juggled management by playing 24 times, including in the Cup final, is proudly on display in the museum.

Three years later, we did get our hands on the Cup with a victory over Middlesbrough. The goals and all-around attacking play of former United striker Mark Hughes proved pivotal in our run to glory.

In 2000, Chelsea won the last FA Cup final at the old Wembley. Fast forward seven years and we had the chance to win the first at the redeveloped national stadium. Man United, who had taken our Premier League crown from us, stood in the way of Jose Mourinho’s men achieving a domestic cup double.

On a scorching day in north-west London, captains John Terry and Ryan Giggs exchanged pennants marking the occasion before kick-off. The one our skipper received is pictured top left.

It was a cagey contest, with neither side willing to give anything away. To extra time the contest went and penalties loomed large until Didier Drogba latched on to Frank Lampard’s through pass and finished coolly with just four minutes remaining. It was the start of the Ivorian’s love affair with the FA Cup final, scoring as we lifted the trophy again in 2009, 2010, and 2012.

We were beaten by Arsenal in 2017 but returned to Wembley a year later and made amends by defeating Manchester United 1-0. Eden Hazard won and scored a penalty in another tight encounter between Antonio Conte’s Blues and Mourinho’s Reds.

Balls used in the 2007 and 2018 finals are displayed in our museum, along with a shirt from the first of those successes over Man United. Both took place on 19 May as, of course, did the 2012 Champions League final.

Five years later, Chelsea met Manchester United for the first time in the Women’s FA Cup final. The pennant given to us by Katie Zelem that afternoon is pictured top right.

Despite never having played in a major cup final before, Man United settled quicker in front of over 77,000 people at Wembley, then a world-record figure for a domestic crowd in the women’s game.

Millie Turner and Leah Galton went close before the break, but Emma Hayes’s side seized control afte rit. We deservedly went ahead midway through the second period when Sam Kerr clinically converted Pernille Harder’s low centre.

The Blues held on to make it three FA Cup wins in a row. After relinquishing that crown last year, beaten by Man United in the semis, we will be trying to prise the trophy back when the teams reconvene at Wembley on Sunday afternoon.

You can find out more about our history and see amazing artefacts in the flesh at the Chelsea FC Museum at Stamford Bridge!