5 of the worst cup final performances in football history

#4 Aston Villa against Arsenal - 2015 FA Cup Final

Tim Sherwood's Aston Villa side choked in the 2015 FA Cup final

Back in 2015, Arsenal were involved in another final that saw one side capitulate, but thankfully for the Gunners' fans, it was their opponents Aston Villa who appeared to throw in the towel, losing 4-0 in one of the most one-sided FA Cup Finals in recent memory.

Villa had been struggling in the league throughout the 2014/15 season but the appointment of Tim Sherwood as manager in February seemed to galvanise the side, and they played some tremendous football to defeat West Bromwich Albion and Liverpool to reach the cup final in May.

On the day though, it simply felt like Villa choked. Creative players Jack Grealish and Charles N’Zogbia – surprisingly selected ahead of the on-form Gabriel Agbonlahor – had no impact whereas Grealish, in particular, had been fantastic in the games leading to the final. And Villa’s defence simply wilted under the speedy attacking threats of Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott.

It took until 40 minutes for Walcott to open the scoring, but the goal had been coming since very early in the game, and Arsenal added a further three goals in the second half – with Per Mertesacker’s third in particular being down to some really shoddy defending from Villa.

In the end, the stats told the story – Arsenal had 57% possession and 16 shots while Villa could only muster 2 shots all game, neither of which hit the target to test keeper Wojciech Szczesny. The game marked the end of Sherwood’s honeymoon period with the club and he was fired just 5 months later.