Julie Fleeting, the Arsenal striker, had the perfect warm-up for today’s Women’s FA Cup final against Leeds United at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground by scoring a hat-trick in Scotland’s 4-1 victory against Portugal on Saturday after recovering from a broken metatarsal.

Arsenal, seeking a ninth triumph and a third in a row, may reintroduce the prolific striker alongside Lianne Sanderson in attack, with Kelly Smith dropping back into an advanced midfield position.

Ciara Grant could return in midfield as Kim Little, signed from Hibernian, is ineligible. There’s no danger of complacency as their invincibility slipped in February when they lost the League Cup final to Everton.

Leeds, having finished third in the Women’s Premier League, are hoping to make it third time lucky against the champions. Two years ago, Arsenal beat them 5-1 in the Women’s FA Cup final and, last season, it was 1-0 in the League Cup final.

Sue Smith, Leeds’s most experienced player, said: “We’ve had a really good season and believe we can beat Arsenal. Two years ago we had a lot of players who had never been in a big final and some of them froze.

“We did better in the League Cup final last year and lost to a very late goal. This season we’ve got the strongest Leeds squad I’ve been part of and after finishing third in the league, we want to make it our best season ever.

“In that first final it was like, ‘We’re just glad to be here.’ But it was a nightmare. We don’t want that to happen again – and we’re confident it won’t.”

Arsenal’s loss in the League Cup final was their only defeat in more than two years of domestic football and they have already clinched the league title for the fifth successive season.

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