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Arsenal had competed in all but one of the previous finals, whereas Manchester City had only previously appeared in two but won both of them. The two teams previously played out the 2014 FA WSL Cup final, which Manchester City won by a goal to nil.
Arsenal won the match 1–0, with a first-half goal from Vivianne Miedema.
Arsenal's journey to the final began in the Group Stage, where they were drawn against Reading - who would go on to be a close rival in the league - as well as mostly lower-half FA WSL 2 teams London Bees, Millwall Lionesses and Watford. Games against the former and the latter would turn out to be easy and result in large winning margins, while a high-scoring away match against Millwall would result in a 5–2 victory. The goals scored in these matches would still not ultimately prove enough to secure Arsenal first place in their group, however, as the home tie against Reading finished with a disappointing 2–1 loss, and Arsenal qualified for the knock-outs in second behind their WSL 1 rival.
Progressing through to the quarter-finals Arsenal were drawn against Group One North winners Sunderland at home, who they would proceed to defeat by a two-goal margin in what would be new manager Joe Montemurro's first game.
They would then come up against Group Stage opponents Reading for a second time, this time being drawn away to the Berkshire team in the semi-finals. Once again they did not find their opponents easy, going down by a goal on two occasions before two late goals put them on top and through to the final.
In contrast to Arsenal, Manchester City were given a tougher Group Stage challenge with previous finalist Birmingham City, fellow WSL 1 team Everton and 2016 WSL 1 side Doncaster Rovers Belles joining City in a group which also featured WSL 2 mid-table side Oxford United. In their first game City defeated Oxford by six clear goals before fighting to a late home victory by the odd goal in three against Everton. A third victory was clocked up in their home match against Birmingham with two first half goals settling the tie to give City an early qualification for the next phase and the Group Stage was wrapped up in a 3–2 away win over Doncaster which saw three goals in four second half minutes.
Having qualified for the knock-out rounds with a perfect record, City were drawn against Group Two South runners-up Bristol City, whose men's team would meet City's own male contingent in the latter stages of their own league cup less than a month later, but defeated them by a slightly more comfortable two goals to nil.
In their semi-final, City were then drawn away again to Chelsea, pitting together the only two teams in English women's football with undefeated records by the half-way point of the season. In their first meeting of 2017–18 City were triumphant by a single early goal from debutant Nadia Nadim, putting them through to a third final in four seasons.
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