LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) – Chelsea reached their third straight FA Cup final with a hard-earned 2-0 win over Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium on Sunday to set up a showdown with quadruple-chasing Liverpool.
Second-half goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount fired Thomas Tuchel’s side to victory in the semi-final and secured a place in the May 14 showpiece match versus Liverpool, who beat Manchester City 3-2 on Saturday.
In their fifth FA Cup final appearance in six years, Chelsea will look to make amends after being runners-up to Leicester City and Arsenal in the last two seasons and also try to avenge their League Cup final loss to Liverpool in February.
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“I’m happy to be part of another FA Cup final,” Tuchel said. “It’s a huge competition. I’m very grateful and we’ll be ready.”
After an attritional first hour, a patient Chelsea side finally broke Palace’s stubborn resistance in the 65th minute through substitute Loftus-Cheek, who had replaced the injured Mateo Kovacic midway through the first half.
Kai Havertz’s cross from the right wasdeflected out to former Palace loanee Loftus-Cheek who hammered a ferocious shot that hit opposing defender Joachim Andersen and flew into the net for the 26-year-old’s first goal of the season.
Mount added a crucial second just over 10 minutes later and sealed the victory for Chelsea, playing Timo Werner’s ball from the edge of the box past Andersen with his first touch and beating goalkeeper Jack Butland with his second.
Patrick Vieira’s Palace had defended well to contain Chelsea until Loftus-Cheek broke the deadlock and were nearly rewarded for a gritty display, with Cheikhou Kouyate twice coming close.
Palace’s talisman Wilfried Zaha was unable to shake off his marker Reece James and make an impact, while Eberechi Eze offered little as a replacement for on-loan midfielder Connor Gallagher, who was unable to play against his parent club.
The win was a tonic for eight-times FA Cup winners Chelsea after Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final exit at Real Madrid, where the holders won the second leg 3-2 after extra time but were eliminated 5-4 on aggregate.
It also keeps them in contention to end a turbulent season with silverware when they take on Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool again next month, having lost 11-10 to them on penalties in the League Cup final in February after a 0-0 draw following extra time.
“I think it took a little deflection but I’ll take it… it’s long overdue,” Loftus-Cheek said of his goal. “It’s been a tough road for me, with injuries and going out on loan.
“We want to get Liverpool back, simple as that. I thought the Carabao (League) Cup final was a fantastic game that could have gone either way. We’re looking forward to it, and hopefully we’ll get our revenge.”
Liverpool hang on for 3-2 FA Cup semi win over City
Liverpool hung on to beat Manchester City 3-2 at Wembley Stadium on Saturday to reach the final of the FA Cup and end Pep Guardiola’s hopes of a treble.
Juergen Klopp’s side will meet the winners of Sunday’s other semi-final between Chelsea and Crystal Palace in the May 14th final as they keep alive their dream of an unprecedented quadruple.
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Guardiola opted to rest several of Premier League leader’s City’s starters, including goalkeeper Ederson, and the weakened side were outplayed by Juergen Klopp’s team in the first half, going in 3-0 down at the interval.
Although City scored at the start and end of the second half their weakened line-up never really did enough to win the game against opponents they drew 2-2 with in the Premier League last week.
“Absolutely proud, incredible – I think the first half was one of the best we ever played,” said Klopp.
“We did all the right stuff, we scored in the right moments, we played an incredible game in the first half, I really loved each second of it,” he added.
Ibrahima Konate headed Liverpool ahead from an Andy Robertson corner in the ninth minute before a dreadful error from City’s American back-up goalkeeper Zack Steffen gifted the Reds a second.
Steffen took too long when receiving a back pass from John Stones and Sadio Mane slid in to tackle the keeper and the ball flew into the net.
Mane then added another, on the stroke of halftime, in more conventional fashion, driving a volley past Steffen after being set up by Thiago Alcantara.
Guardiola made no changes at the break, even though he had options such as Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez to call on, but his side did spark into life.
Jack Grealish pulled a goal back 70 seconds after the resumption after Gabriel Jesus did well to beat Fabinho and set up the England midfielder who drilled home.
Liverpool keeper Alisson Becker was alert to get out quickly and foil Gabriel Jesus as the Brazilian burst goalwards but while City were improved they still were far from their usual levels of chance creation.
It was puzzling that Guardiola only made one of his possible five changes in the second half, bringing Mahrez on seven minutes from the end although the introduction of the Algerian did make a big impact.
Mahrez cut in from the right and dribbled along the byline before a low ball went through Alisson then Bernardo Silva made it 3-2 in stoppage time.
That prompted a frantic final few minutes with Fernandinho and Mahrez both seeing shots deflected out for corners while Raheem Sterling’s weak shot was easily saved by Alisson.
At the other end Steffen did well to stop Roberto Firmino as Liverpool looked to finish off the contest but the final whistle confirmed their place in their 15th FA Cup final but their first in ten years.
For City it was the third straight season in which they have lost in the last four of the FA Cup.
“We gave everything after a tough first half,” said Guardiola.
“For the first goal, the set pieces they are very, very strong. The second was an accident. Difficult to come back but they did it perfectly in the second half,” he added.
Liverpool remain in contention for four trophies having won the League Cup, reached the semi-finals of the Champions League and still being in the race for the Premier League title where they sit a point behind leaders City.
Reuters
