Supervisor-less Chelsea earned the fitting to salvage one thing from their waning season by battling previous Leeds within the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley on Sunday, courtesy of Enzo Fernandez’s first-half header. Interim head coach Calum McFarlane can now put together to guide his aspect out in opposition to Manchester Metropolis within the showpiece in Could.
Chelsea appeared fully revitalised following Liam Rosenior’s midweek sacking and the return of top-scorer Joao Pedro to the beginning line-up, but it surely was Leeds who had the primary clear sighting of objective as Robert Sanchez produced a elegant save to disclaim Brenden Aaronson one on one 1 / 4 of an hour in.
The Blues snatched the lead halfway via the primary interval, simply moments after Pedro had smacked the within of the submit. Pascal Struijk’s error was seized upon and Pedro Neto’s clipped cross arrange a straightforward header for Fernandez for what proved to be the one objective of the sport. There was a flashpoint shortly afterwards, as Dominic Calvert-Lewin – himself the sufferer of a hair pull in opposition to Manchester United not too long ago – controversially escaped a purple card after a VAR test regardless of showing to yank Marc Cucuralla’s curly locks.
Leeds predictably flew out of the traps within the second half, however Chelsea got here via a flurry of possibilities unscathed – most notably a fierce drive from Anton Stach that was pushed away by Sanchez and the German’s free-kick that flashed simply extensive. The Blues held on, and McFarlane can now stay up for testing himself in opposition to Pep Guardiola for the second time this season within the last.
GOAL charges Chelsea’s gamers from Wembley…
