Manchester City Advance to FA Cup Final in Consecutive Seasons
London - Manchester City pulled out a very gritty 1-0 win against Chelsea in the FA Cup Semi-Final after coming off of a brutal, emotional loss to Real Madrid in their most recent Champions League match. Star forward, Erling Haaland, was removed from the game after picking up an undisclosed injury and did not start today against Chelsea. Meanwhile, for Chelsea, Cole Palmer has been on a tear. He has scored 20 goals and delivered nine assists this season in the Premier League, scoring seven goals in his last two home games. Since this Semi-Final is being played at the historic Wembley Stadium, I’m excited to see how Palmer will compete against his former club, at a neutral venue.
Chelsea fans had their hearts sink to their stomach within two minutes of the match after Marc Cucurella's errands pass across his own 18-yard box to Thiago Silva. Luckily, Kevin De Bruyne wasn’t able to do anything with it and lost possession, giving it back to the Blues. Nicolas Jackson had a chance to score mere minutes later, but it went straight to the City goalkeeper, Stefan Ortega. It was, indeed, a very busy opening 10 minutes of the match.
On another classic Man City counterattack, De Bruyne slotted a beautiful ball to Phil Foden inside the Chelsea six-yard box. The Blues goalkeeper, Djordje Petrovic, came up with a big stop without even touching the ball. Using his large 6'4 frame, he made himself big and cut off Foden’s angle to shoot on target. At the 26th-minute mark, Petrovic made another massive stop by kicking away Bernardo Silva's header that was across the frame. In the end, Silva was offside so it wouldn’t have mattered in the end, but still was a fantastic save.
Jackson had an opportunity to score for Chelsea not long after, with a one-on-one opportunity with Ortega, he simply just failed to score. Chelsea fans were irate with Jackson as all he had to do was dribble past the City keeper and shoot, but chose to hold it for whatever reason. With only 10 minutes before halftime, Palmer fancily dribbled into City’s 18-yard box and got off a left-foot curler, aimed at the back post, but was saved by Ortega. This match was neck and neck the entire first half as you would expect in an elimination scenario.
To open the second half, Jackson had back-to-back opportunities to score. His first chance was another one-on-one with Ortega but was saved and cleared away. Cole Palmer found the ball back and delivered an excellent cross to Jackson, who then headed it directly into the ground in front of Ortega. Chelsea fans are beginning to wonder if Jackson provides any value to the starting lineup whatsoever.
After building up possession, Foden found himself open inside the Chelsea 18-yard box and delivered a punishing strike to the lower left corner but was pushed away by Petrovic. He has been massive for the Blues, becoming a brick wall in front of the net. On the counterattack, Chelsea was given a free-kick opportunity just outside the 18-yard box and Palmer delivered a low strike on target. However, upon review, it was clear that it was deflected by Jack Grealish's arm and went out of bounds. The referee signaled for a goal kick when it should have at least a corner kick if not a penalty kick. It was even reviewed by the VAR team, and nothing came from it.
Jeremy Doku was subbed on for Grealish at the 65th-minute mark, signaling that City wants to fasten the tempo of the game with Doku’s speed. Straight away, he made an impact by dribbling past the Chelsea back line and getting off a left-footed bullet. Petrovic stepped up again and made another save, with his feet, for the Blues. On the next Chelsea attack, they were awarded a corner kick when suddenly Ortega went down grabbing his Achilles/calf area. He hadn’t received any type of action in a few minutes, so it was an awkward moment.
Manchester City finally broke the deadlock in the 84th minute when Bernardo Silva found himself wide open off a deflected cross. De Bruyne sent in a low scorching ball that was deflected by Petrovic and just happened to find Silva open on the back post. Cucurella was the nearest defender to Silva but could not thwart him away from goal. Being a Chelsea supporter, this is one of the most frustrating feelings I've had watching my Blues. It’s always the same script, struggling to finish when given plentiful opportunities and giving up a gut-wrenching goal after defending so well.
In the end, City will advance to the FA Cup Championship where they will face the winner of Manchester United vs Coventry. This was one of City’s most dysfunctional performances of the season and still managed to pull out a win. If Chelsea can find a proper striker who can finish consistently, this game would have ended much differently. Nicolas Jackson is not the future star for this club as many expected he would be.
