Emma Hayes believes a Wembley sell-out for Sunday’s Women’s FA Cup final is “the new norm”.

Defending champions Chelsea will take on Manchester United in front of an expected 90,000-strong crowd – a record for a women’s domestic club match.

This season has seen many milestones hit in terms of attendances in the Women’s Super League, with teams capitalising on the interest created by England’s European Championship victory.

Hayes is delighted to see her hopes coming to fruition, saying at a pre-match press conference: “Having a sold-out Wembley is just fantastic for the game.

“As a women’s football fan, it means everything to me. I’ve sat here for over 10 years pushing, probing and championing for this because I knew that this day wasn’t too far away.

“With the success of the Lionesses, I knew that there would be no excuses now and I think this is the new norm.”

Chelsea and United are going head to head in league and cup, with the latter looking to win the first major trophy in their short history, while Hayes’ side are bidding to make it a hat-trick of FA Cup titles.

The Blues head to Wembley having closed the gap on United at the top of the WSL table to one point with a game in hand thanks to Wednesday’s 6-0 victory over Leicester, which followed a 7-0 success against Everton.

Chelsea won both of their league meetings against United this season, and Hayes is buoyed by a clean bill of health, including key striker Sam Kerr, who was an unused substitute in midweek after going off early last weekend.

“We’re in good shape and we’re looking healthy,” said the Chelsea boss.

“Everyone who knows me knows that I don’t just pick a team of 11 players, it’s about a squad and we like to mix things up in training throughout the week.

“We believe in developing players and developing those combinations, and it’s fair to say the entire squad is at their best level, they’re all prepared, and, for that reason, it’s going to be difficult to pick a team.”

Marc Skinner believes stripping the emotion out of a sold-out Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley can help Manchester United claim their first major trophy.

Sunday’s showdown between United and Chelsea is a 90,000 sell-out, setting a new attendance record for a women’s domestic club match outside the Women’s Champions League.

But United boss Skinner has promised to treat the occasion as a “business-like event”, saying he has learned lessons from Manchester City beating his Birmingham team 4-1 in the 2017 FA Cup showpiece at Wembley.

Skinner said: “What we got wrong at Birmingham is that we made it a massive event. We made it bigger than it should have been.

“Everyone knows it’s a big deal, but we put quotes on the wall from players and families. We made mistakes, and that was naivety.

“It became an emotional event rather than a clear business-like event.

“You can celebrate after if you win the cup and be as emotional as you want, but the reality is there’s going to be enough emotions in the game that we need to save them up.

“I’ve learned from that and we have to manage stages of the game better than we did at Birmingham. These are the factors we are looking to develop for this one.”

United’s women’s team have had a remarkable rise since their formation in May 2018.

They were promoted from the Championship in their inaugural season and currently top the Women’s Super League, holding a one-point lead over serial winners Chelsea who have a game in hand.

Emma Hayes’ Chelsea are chasing a third successive league and cup double, but Skinner insists the Wembley clash will have no bearing on the title race.

He said: “I’m not thinking about that at all. I am solely focused on a one-off game.

“For the first time I’ve allowed our players to separate the games and we are looking at this before two difficult games in the league (against Manchester City and Liverpool).

“This has no effect in our league and we are going to treat it as such, play it as the one-off event that it is.”

Skinner is adamant there is no extra pressure on him on Sunday, even though women’s football will be under a fierce spotlight both in the stadium and around the country with a nationwide television audience.

“It’s not pressure I don’t have every day,” said Skinner. “I even think there’s more pressure on us than Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester City because we are Manchester United.

“I feel that because every Manchester United fan will want us to win and we are huge around the world.

“I’m sure there will be some nerves, but I’m fuelling my focus and attention to maximise this because, if we win, it will be massive.”

United captain Katie Zelem is available after suspension as Norway defender Maria Thorisdottir misses out with the foot injury that ended her season prematurely.

Emma Hayes felt Chelsea showed "the mentality of champions" to overcome fellow heavyweights Arsenal 2-0 in the Women's FA Cup on Sunday.

The crisis in the men's team has not proven contagious, with Hayes' women staying on course for a possible domestic treble by booking a quarter-final place.

Goals from Sophie Ingle in the 21st minute and Sam Kerr in the 56th minute, both measured finishes from inside the penalty area, meant the cup derby spoils went to the Blues at Kingsmeadow.

In the Women's Super League, Chelsea sit a point behind Manchester United but have a game in hand, while Hayes' side will face Arsenal again next week in the WSL Cup final.

Back on duty after the international break, Hayes was delighted her travel-weary players found enough to end the FA Cup hopes of the Gunners.

Hayes told BBC Two: "That's the mentality of champions. It's not pretty, it was sluggish, a lot of technical errors, but tactically they carried out everything I asked of them.

"There's two good teams. Both are going to create chances, and we were clinical."

Asked what pleased her the most about Chelsea's impressive display, Hayes said: "It's always mentality: when your legs are heavy, your brain's tired, the commitment to stay in the game and take your chances in the right moment.

"Look at the players out there . Across the team I thought it was a resilient performance and comfortable, even though we didn't have much of the ball in the second half. That was intentional."

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's daughter Karna made her debut for Manchester United Women in Sunday's 2-0 win against Bridgwater.

The forward was brought on as a late substitute at Fairfax Park with United already two goals ahead in the Women's FA Cup fourth-round tie.

Karna's father Ole, who played for and managed United's men's side, and wife Silje were among the 2,500 spectators in attendance.

An own goal from Charlotte Buxton gave United a half-time lead and Ella Toone added a second eight minutes from time.