“What can I say? When you have two and half days to recover and you play away and you have to travel on the train for three hours,” Guardiola said. “But don’t say we don’t pay attention. A team that arrives in the final stages of this competition couldn’t say that. This team won four Carabao Cups so just say we lost the game. But it’s a poor argument. You wouldn’t get to semi-finals of the FA Cup and Carabao Cup if we’re not paying attention. We always play to win and congratulations to Chelsea.”
Jacob Steinberg was our man at Wembley. His words have landed gracefully on to the page below, so please click and enjoy. Many thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Updated
Pep’s view. “We played a good last 15 minutes ... in the beginning we struggled to find our place in the pockets ... congratulations to Chelsea ... it was a tight game ... we didn’t create enough ... the second half was much better but we conceded a goal ... we reacted really well ... the margins are so tight ... in general we controlled it well ... in the second half we were much more aggressive, though we didn’t create many clear chances.” He also reports that it “doesn’t look good” for the injured Kevin De Bruyne, who “has pain”, though he doesn’t know anything for sure and will find out more tomorrow.
A slightly downbeat Fernandinho speaks to the BBC. “Obviously we wanted to win the game and go through to the final ... they started better than us but we got control of the game ... but we didn’t find the net ... FA Cup semi-finals are always tight and are decided on details ... they were better ... congratulations to them ... it was a tight match ... [the League Cup final] will be important for the fans and they will be able to come to the stadium ... another final for us is important for us as players and human beings, and it is always special to come back for a final.”
Chelsea celebrate a deserved victory. They’re in the final for the fourth time in five seasons! What a record they’ve got in this famous old competition. They were the better team this evening from the off; City were strangely undercooked. “Everybody is happy, we did a good job, especially in the first half,” man-of-the-match Hakim Ziyech tells the BBC. “I still have a lot to work on, but I think I’m on a good way. We know what we are still playing for, and all the ways are open, we are very excited.”
Updated
FULL TIME: Chelsea 1-0 Manchester City
Chelsea make it to the 2021 FA Cup final, where they’ll play either Leicester City or Southampton! There will be no quadruple for Manchester City.
90 min +5: City try to deliver the ball back into the area, but Dias clatters Zouma and that’s another opportunity for Chelsea to showcase their clock-management skills. Dias is booked.
90 min +4: Corner for City. It’s hit long from the right. Rodri wins a header at the far stick. Kepa saves, though he drops the ball, forcing Zouma to batter it clear.
Updated
90 min +3: Pulisic is sent clear down the left. He cuts infield, beats a couple of men, then plants a shot on the turn into the bottom left. He hasn’t sealed the deal for Chelsea, though, because the flag goes up correctly for offside. He’d started his run too early.
Updated
90 min +2: Laporte is booked for a clumsy barge into the back of Azpilicueta, who was quite happy to encourage the contact. The Chelsea captain goes down, eating up another minute.
90 min +1: City have the ball, but they’re not being allowed to do anything with it. Chelsea keep closing those gaps.
90 min: Azpilicueta is booked for a series of garden-variety fouls. There will be five additional minutes.
89 min: Chelsea are pressing and harrying, just as they’ve done from the get-go. City can’t get upfield at the minute.
88 min: Silva finally trudges off the stage, his departure having eaten up plenty of precious time.
Updated
87 min: Silva can’t continue. He’ll be replaced with Zouma, though he’s still down on the turf getting treatment at the moment. He looks in genuine pain, to be fair, though City fans can be excused for suspecting a little professionalism at play too.
85 min: Silva goes down holding his back again. The clock ticks on.
84 min: A huge chance for City! Gundogan crosses from the right. Jesus chests down but he’s under extreme pressure from James, so can’t spin and shoot from six yards. He lays off to Sterling, who leans back and blazes wildly over the bar. Ah, the flag goes up anyway. It would have been offside, Jesus having gone too early. Still, a miss is a miss.
82 min: Rodri has a whack from distance, but it dribbles through to Kepa.
81 min: That double substitution is a clear sign that Chelsea have decided to batten down the hatches. A big ten-minute game of attack versus defence coming up.
79 min: Foden whips the corner in. Azpilicueta heads clear, albeit without much power. The ball appears to brush his arm as he heads down. City loudly claim a penalty, but neither referee nor VAR shows interest. Doing nothing this time is the correct decision: Azpilcueta’s arm was down by his side, and it’s not clear the ball made contact anyway.
78 min: Chilwell is forced to eyebrow a cross out for a corner with Sterling lurking behind. Before the set piece can be taken, Chelsea replace Werner and Ziyech with Havertz and Emerson.
76 min: The free kick leads to some head tennis in the Chelsea box. Chelsea struggle to clear. Gundogan tries to replicate the Zidane volley of the 2002 Champions League final, but miscues. Chelsea break upfield through Werner, who embarks on a solo run that ends in an easy-enough claim for Steffen. This is on a knife-edge.
Updated
75 min: Jesus tries to bring down a cross from the right but can’t control. Jorginho romps away, though City come straight back, Foden winning a free kick out on the right.
73 min: Sterling has time on the edge of the Chelsea box, with Cancelo romping down the inside-right channel on the overlap. Sterling tries to release his team-mate, but clanks a woeful pass straight out for a goal kick. Cancelo had no chance of reaching that. City just aren’t clicking up front.
72 min: Corner for Chelsea down the left. Rudiger goes up for it, but Rodri clears. Both teams are pressing for the crucial next goal.
70 min: Pulisic, who scored early in last season’s final, before a hamstring injury (and Arsenal) ruined his day, comes on for Mount.
69 min: Some space for Foden down the right. He earns a corner. Foden swings it in himself, long. At the far stick, Rodri heads back across the face of goal. Dias, six yards out, heads over the bar. What a chance!
67 min: Fernandinho has been booked retrospectively, for pestering poor Mount yet again. It’s now safe to say he’s done more than enough to get himself sent off, but this is the reality.
65 min: A free kick for City out on the right. They load the box. Gundogan takes, and clumps it over everyone. It’s been that sort of day so far for City. Not an ideal start for the sub.
64 min: Torres, who has been extremely quiet, is replaced by Gundogan.
63 min: Sterling goes up with Rudiger and the pair clash heads. On comes the man with the magic sponge.
61 min: Chelsea are first to everything again. City need to snap out of their funk, and quick, because we’re over an hour in now, and Kepa has had nothing of note to do.
59 min: Chelsea should be two up. A simple long ball down the middle finds Ziyech free! He’s one on one with the keeper, but allows Steffen to block. Steffen was caught in no-man’s land for the goal, but he’s made up for that error here. A crucial save!
Updated
57 min: And with one rapier thrust, the quadruple is under serious threat. Chelsea deserve their lead on balance. Can City, without their main playmaker, respond?
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Manchester City (Ziyech 55)
Chilwell sends Werner romping down the left. Werner enters the box and rolls the ball inside, past an on-walkabout Steffen, for Ziyech to slam home. That’s pretty much the same goal that was chalked off in the first half, only this time Werner remained onside!
Updated
54 min: Sterling briefly threatens to dribble clear down the inside-left channel, but Azpilicueta does well to toe-poke the ball away from danger. Then Chelsea go up the other end, and ...
53 min: A lot of good players on show here, but they’re doing very little. In the meantime, Scott Blair would like to take issue with the description of Mike Dean as “increasingly preposterous ... Scansion is an odd thing, but I’ve now got this comprehensively stuck in my head, so cheers for that.”
51 min: Foden worms his way down the right and chips towards Jesus at the far post. Jesus heads back across goal, hoping to find Sterling, but the ball deflects off James and into the arms of Kepa.
50 min: A lull. It’s fair to say this cup semi hasn’t got going.
48 min: City are taking no risks. De Bruyne limps off, with a concerned look on his face, and is replaced by Foden.
Updated
47 min: De Bruyne is down, having turned his ankle a little when trying to beat Kante to a loose ball.
46 min: City are quickly on the front foot, Torres crossing from the right to nobody in particular. But that’s already better.
City get the second half underway. No changes, though let’s see if City have been given a rocket and go about their business a little more urgently.
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Chelsea 0-0 Manchester City
There’s just enough time for another comic turn from the increasingly preposterous Mike Dean. City win a corner, the clock having already ticked past one added minute. Dean waits for the best part of 30 seconds for De Bruyne to take it, then immediately blows for half-time when he does. De Bruyne is beyond livid. What a circus act, and let’s not forget that Fernandinho can count himself lucky not to have been at least booked, perhaps sent off. Anyway, Chelsea have been the better side, though neither keeper has had any serious work to do.
Updated
45 min: There will be one of your finest minutes added to the end of this half.
44 min: So having said that, City push Chelsea back for the first time this evening, Torres and De Bruyne combining down the right to win a corner. The ball’s worked to the left wing, where the unusually quiet Sterling whips to the far post. Fernandinho eyebrows a poor header well wide.
42 min: City continue to toil up front. On this subject, here’s Paul Ruffley: “Either Fernandinho (preferably, given he’s heading for a red card) or Rodri need to be replaced by Gundogan or maybe even Foden. De Bruyne can’t be the whole of the attacking midfield.”
41 min: De Bruyne misplaces a pass. Chelsea have rattled City a fair bit here.
39 min: It’s all a bit scrappy now.
37 min: A little bit of City possession in the Chelsea half. This sort of thing usually isn’t worth reporting when City are playing, but this is where we are. “What has Mason Mount done to Fernandinho?” wonders Adam Roberts, “and what does he have to do to get booked?”
Updated
35 min: Fernandinho barrels down the middle, only to be brought down from behind by James, who gets both man and ball. That’s a booking, fair enough, though Chelsea are understandably irritated given what the victim of this incident has got away with earlier. Mike Dean, right there.
Updated
34 min: ... the ball is shuttled back to James, who sends a first-time shot well wide left. Chelsea have looked by far the more likely here.
Updated
33 min: Ziyech slides a ball down the right for Werner to chase. For a second, it looks as though Werner will tear clear of Laporte, but the defender stays on his shoulder and slide-blocks the ball out for a corner. From which ...
32 min: Ziyech clips an in-flight De Bruyne from behind. You’d imagine there’d be a booking for that, too, but Mike Dean has clearly decided to play it supercool today.
30 min: Fernandinho escapes censure yet again, despite having clipped Mount’s ankle. Given the dubious nature of his earlier tussle with the same player, he’s really pushing his luck here. On another day, with another ref in charge, he could easily be walking.
29 min: Fernandinho slides in recklessly on Mount, who evades the challenge and races off upfield. Nothing comes of the attack, but surely the referee will book the City midfielder when there’s a break in play.
28 min: The first lull of the game, as Chelsea faff around over a throw.
26 min: This is good stuff from Chelsea, who are pressing City all over the pitch, and in the manic fashion to boot. Whatever happens today, you can be sure it’s going to be an interesting title race next season. Chelsea have the air of a team going places ... though surely City can’t continue to be this passive all afternoon.
24 min: Kante channels his inner Beckenbauer, sashaying down the middle. He’s less evading challenges, more ignoring them. Eventually he runs out of road and tries to release Werner with a little poke-through but Dias funnels the ball back to Steffen, who clears.
22 min: Chelsea suddenly spring forward, Mount slipping Chilwell into room down the left. The resulting cross is deflected away from danger by Laporte. On the City bench, Pep Guardiola wears a pensive frown. His side have been second best so far.
21 min: Chelsea are knocking it around with great confidence. Some very attractive football. City are being played at their own game here, regularly hassled off the ball in short order, then forced to chase around hither and yon.
19 min: Ziyech plays James in down the right. He loops long, over everyone in the City defence, and the ball drops to Chilwell, who bobbles a weak volley wide left. That was a very good chance, and Chilwell’s grimace speaks volumes.
Updated
17 min: Replays show a coming together between Mount and Fernandinho, the latter nearly planting his boot on the prone Chelsea man’s face. The referee Mike Dean got a good view of it, and decided it was not deliberate, but Mount certainly wasn’t so sure, and he’s lucky no obvious contact was made. You’ve seen red cards flashed for less.
15 min: Chelsea are happy to sit back and wait for the opportunity to break. They do so here, Kante intercepting and releasing Ziyech down the left. Werner nearly gets on the end of the eventual half-cross, half-shot, but he’s crowded out.
14 min: City reestablish a little of the old order with some sterile possession in the middle of the park. Pass, pass, passity pass. Bump that percentage share back up.
12 min: Chelsea have enjoyed 65 percent of possession so far. It’s not often City are on the wrong side of this particular metric, but there it is.
Updated
10 min: A poor moment for Aziplicueta, who gifts Rodri possession and sends Jesus tearing away down the left, leaving the Chelsea man for dust. There’s nobody to find in the middle, though, and so Jesus tries a curler into the top right. It’s an easy claim for Kepa.
9 min: But it’s not all good news for Chelsea, because Silva is down and feeling the small of his back. He’s frowning quite a lot, which is never a good sign, but for now he’s fine to continue.
8 min: Werner feeds a pass down the inside-right for James, whose shot-cum-cross is palmed away from danger by Steffen. This is a very bright start by Chelsea.
7 min: Chelsea run the same play, only this time it’s Chilwell swinging one into the box, hopefully for Ziyech. Laporte is forced to concede a corner. Nothing comes of that, but Chelsea may be onto something here.
6 min: Chilwell hoicks a first-time ball down the left to release Werner, who rolls infield, past Laporte’s desperate lunge, and tees up Ziyech. He slots into the bottom left, but the flag goes up for offside. It’s the correct decision.
Updated
4 min: Dias tries to release Torres down the right with a long pass. Torres is forced to turn tail by Chilwell. It’s a fairly quiet start, with City gently probing.
2 min: City continue to knock it around. Chelsea finally get it back when Torres clatters into Chilwell needlessly.
14 seconds: City, having hared out of the blocks and pressed hard, win the ball and start stroking it around.
Chelsea get the ball rolling ... but only after the players take a knee of solidarity and love. There’s no room for racism. Challenge it. Report it. Change it. Kick it out.
Here come the teams! Both teams sport their first-choice clobber, so it’s a story of the blues: Chelsea royal, City sky. We’ll be off soon, after a minute of silence in memory of Prince Philip.
Updated
Not a pre-match peep from Thomas Tuchel. That may be down to the BBC showcasing a pre-recorded interview with the Chelsea boss. The big takeaway from that? He’s in a very chipper mood. All smiles.
Pep talks to the BBC. “It’s the semi-final of the FA Cup, the most traditional competition in the world, so it’s a pleasure to be here, an honour. The players are in a very good mood. The Champions League is an important competition and we have struggled to break that bridge of the quarter-finals but we did it. There is no time to enjoy the good moments, there is always the next one, and we are here. It will be an incredible, tough game, Chelsea are one of the best sides in Europe, no doubt about that. Thomas Tuchel is an excellent manager and it will be a tough, tough game.”
Fancy some pre-match reading in lieu of a programme to idly flick through? Jacob Steinberg is your only man.
Good news for Manchester City too. Their defence of the Women’s FA Cup got off to a flyer with an 8-0 win against Aston Villa. Chloe Kelly was the hat-trick hero of that one. The men will be hoping that augurs well for their game, although an eight-goal margin of victory against parsimonious Chelsea is probably pushing it.
There has already been some good news for Chelsea today. Fellow top-four hopefuls West Ham went down 3-2 at Newcastle this lunchtime. Louise Taylor was at St James’ Park to witness a thriller.
Chelsea make three changes to the side that lost 1-0 against Porto during the week. Kepa Arrizabalaga gets his customary cup run-out as Edouard Mendy is rested, while Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner take the places of Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz, who drop to the bench. Mateo Kovacic has a hamstring issue, while Andreas Christensen has a muscle injury.
Manchester City change eight of the starting XI sent out for the 2-1 win at Borussia Dortmund. They too have a bespoke cup keeper, Zack Steffen replacing Ederson. Elsewhere, Joao Cancelo, Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy, Fernandinho, Ferran Torres, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus take the place of Kyle Walker, John Stones, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden. All eight of those replaced drop to the bench. Sergio Aguero is out altogether for the third match running.
Updated
The teams
Chelsea: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Rudiger, James, Jorginho, Kante, Chilwell, Ziyech, Werner, Mount.
Subs: Caballero, Alonso, Emerson, Zouma, Gilmour, Havertz, Hudson-Odoi, Pulisic, Giroud.
Manchester City: Steffen, Cancelo, Dias, Laporte, Mendy, Rodrigo, Fernandinho, De Bruyne, Torres, Sterling, Jesus.
Subs: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Ake, Gundogan, Zinchenko, Bernardo, Mahrez, Foden.
Preamble
This is only the second time Chelsea have faced Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-finals. City won the first meeting, back in 2013, Samir Nasri and Sergio Aguero giving Roberto Mancini’s side a two-goal lead, Demba Ba pulling one back for Rafa Benitez’s men, City in the end hanging on. City went on to lose to Wigan in the final, but let’s not reopen old wounds.
Nevertheless, history is very much City’s friend here. That semi-final win was one of four victories over Chelsea in six FA Cup ties. The Citizens have also got the upper hand over the Pensioners at the new Wembley, unbeaten in three, winning the 2013 semi, the 2018 Community Shield and the 2019 League Cup final, and yes those old nicknames are indeed rarely used these days.
On the flip side, the modern Chelsea are very comfortable in this competition. Since winning the cup for only the second time in their entire history in 1997, they’ve won the trophy another six times, and been runner-up on an additional three occasions. The path to the final is well trodden and compares favourably to City’s recent record of two wins and one other final appearance in the last ten years ... which is a more-than-acceptable return by normal standards, but there it is.
City go into this semi as favourites. Win, and Pep Guardiola’s men will be one step closer to an unprecedented quadruple of Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup. It’s fair to say they’re in form. Also, they swatted Chelsea aside at Stamford Bridge back in January. But those were Frank’s Wild Years, and Chelsea are a different proposition these days under Thomas Tuchel. This is poised deliciously, then, a winner-takes-all showdown between the two best teams in the country right now. Good luck calling it; we might need extra time and penalties to see what’s what. It’s on!
Kick off: 5.30pm BST.
Updated
