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Her side face favourites Manchester City on Saturday, who beat holders Chelsea to make the final.

But if anyone's prepared to help West Ham take on the Women's FA Cup Final for the first ever time, then it's Claire Rafferty.

The defender, who has won it twice before, has a few things up her sleeve to get ready for a game.

Namely relaxing, watching TV, listening to podcasts and cooking.

The left-back, who left Chelsea for the Hammers last year after 11 seasons, tells Newsbeat how she spends her day before a match.

"We have training in the morning. I put my music on in the car. I drive to the training ground singing along. Obviously I've got Radio 1 on. Have little chat with the girls, do a pitch session, and then I'm back home chilling all afternoon."

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But it's the night before that her rituals come into play - she likes to "watch crime series on Netflix" and "play some podcasts if I'm cooking."

Although her night before meal might not be quite what you'd expect: "I do like to cook a curry the night before. It's good for you! Chicken... rice."

But her match day plans are a bit more traditional.

"On the day I don't like to eat a great deal, I usually have some porridge," she says. "By the time we get to the ground I'll usually have an energy bar by 12 o'clock."

And the last person to message her before she heads on to the pitch is usually her mum, who puts her in a positive frame of mind.

"It will probably be to our family WhatsApp, probably my mum sending a calming message just saying good luck, relax and enjoy it."

West Ham's men's team had tried to move their 3pm kick-off on Saturday so that fans could then make Wembley for the women's game at 5:30pm.

They were unfortunately unsuccessful, although Rafferty's still hoping some will make it over.

"It's unfortunate that they couldn't pull it off but it was nice to actually ask initially," Rafferty tells Newsbeat. "I was in a taxi just last week and one of the guys was saying that quite a few of them are going to leave at half time to get over to our game."

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Women's FA Cup: West Ham beat Reading on penalties - highlights

As for dishing on who usually plays DJ in the changing room, 30-year-old Rafferty has this to say: "There's been a debate going on all season. Some of the younger girls play music that some of us have never heard of. The CBeebies tracks don't really fit in the changing room."

Manchester City won the final in 2017 and are the favourites to pick up the trophy this weekend.

But Rafferty isn't letting being an underdog faze her.

"You know they've been to Wembley before, we are the clear underdogs going into the game. But we are going into this game with the mentality that we can win."

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