Nigerian international Asisat Oshoala was not in action as Arsenal Ladies beat Sunderland 7-0 to reach their 15th Women’s FA Cup final, despite having 10 players for much of the game.
Danielle van de Donk put Arsenal ahead after Emma Mitchell was dismissed for two yellow cards before Dan Carter made it two after the break.
Sunderland’s Abby Holmes was then sent off for fouling Carter in the box and Fara Williams converted from the spot.
Van de Donk completed her treble either side of Jordan Nobbs’ neat finish, before a late seventh for Carter.
Sunderland, who lost to Arsenal in the 2009 final, were largely disappointing and had to be thankful to goalkeeper Rachel Laws’ good save from a curling Natalia Pablos Sanchon effort that the scoreline was not worse.
Record 13-times winners Arsenal remain on course to lift the trophy for a third time in four seasons.
The final will be held at Wembley on Saturday 14 May, when Pedro Losa’s side will face holders Chelsea, who beat Manchester City 2-1 after extra time in the other semi-final.
Arsenal captain Casey Stoney:
“Normally you go down to 10 and you panic, but we didn’t. We knew we were good enough and we knew we could move the ball.
“Everything just clicked. We’ve been looking for a performance like that for a while. I’m sure Sunderland will be very disappointed, but they’ll learn from it and we move on to the final.
“Wembley is one of the most exciting things. You dream of playing there as a young girl and now we’re there.
“We knew we had to win to do that, but now it’s not just about going to Wembley. It’s about going there and picking up a trophy.”
Sunderland manager Carlton Fairweather:
“Credit to Arsenal. They worked very hard despite being down to 10 players. They’re a really good side.
“We always knew that anyway and, for some reason, we thought the game was over when they went down to 10.
“Obviously that has come back to bite us on the backside. It’s a massive confidence blow and it does feel devastating. We finished better than last year but obviously it’s disappointing what we’ve done.”
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