Pedro was the match winner in extra time as Chelsea booked their place in the FA Cup set-final with a hard-fought victory away at Leicester City.
Following the disappointment of Wednesday evening, Chelsea needed to bounce back with a result and despite a late Leicester equaliser, the Blues pushed on in extra time to book their place at Wembley for the second consecutive year. A sluggish first-half performance was ruled out by a sumptuous Alvaro Morata finish with just a couple of minutes of the half to play. A superb run and pass found Morata bursting beyond the Leicester defence, and his clipped shot over Kasper Schmeichel was not one of a player who’d previously gone without a goal in his last 13 appearances.
Leicester seized the objective in the second-half and Marc Albrighton, in particular, caused Chelsea’s defence numerous issues, whipping in some inch-perfect deliveries for Jamie Vardy and co. And Vardy was the man to eventually draw the Foxes level, scrambling home a loose ball from all of three yards out. Chelsea weren’t able to respond and as a result, extra time beckoned.
Antonio Conte withdrew an excellent but nonetheless exhausted Willian for the more industrious energy of Pedro – who had thus far made little impact this season. But just as had been the case in the first 90 minutes, Chelsea took the lead on the stroke of the interval, this time it was Spanish winger Pedro, who capitalised on Schmeichel’s misjudgment of a flighted N’Golo Kante cross to nod past the Dane.
The draw for the semi-final room place moments after confirmation of Chelsea’s victory, and the Blues will feel somewhat relieved to have drawn a struggling Southampton team who had broken down a stubborn Wigan team just before kick-off in the Midlands.
Here are the player ratings:
Willy Caballero – 6.5: took great command of his area but whilst he was unlucky not to keep out Vardy’s effort his initial save should really have been held by the Argentinian instead of spilling it into the path of the England striker.
Cesar Azpilicueta – 6: a good initial block to deny Vincente Iborra but other than that he failed to contain Albrighton, allowing him the time and space to cross instead of tightly marking him.
Andreas Christensen – 7: he made two important interceptions and retained possession well, very rarely giving the ball away. Just like the rest of his defensive teammates, he made a lot of clearances as Chelsea dropped off to soak up the pressure, especially in the second-half. Came off with an injury midway through extra time.
Antonio Rudiger – 6: suffered from some poor communication with his teammates. He held on to the ball too long at times but kept Riayd Mahrez in check for the most part and his physicality usually gave him the edge in flat-out races for the ball – a tact adopted by Leicester after Chelsea pushed their line higher up the pitch following Leicester’s equaliser.
Victor Moses – 5.5: was far too slow to get the ball out of his feet losing possession too faster more determined players due to a poor touch or his rushed effort to rid himself off the ball. Extra time saw him come into his own though, and he put in some important blocks and tackles to help Chelsea hold on to their lead. No team has yet identified the space afforded to Moses, but whilst the Nigerian fails to make good of the opportunities he’s given then teams probably won’t endeavour to defend against said threat. Tiemoue Bakayoko – 5, just sloppy all over the park. from the start he seemed to be off the pace, overrunning the ball and giving away some lazy fouls whilst also failing to pick incisive passes. His withdrawal at half-time was no great surprise and this will have done no favours to his shattered confidence.
N’Golo Kante – 8: his stats didn’t tell the whole story as he only produced a single tackle and interception, but he really was everywhere picking up loose balls and drifting past players with a graceful and languid style that lacked in other players. His assist for Pedro played out better than intended, as his clipped cross lacked enough pace or direction – but Schmeichel’s intervention meant that all Pedro had to do was get good contact before he could celebrate giving Chelsea the lead again.
Marcos Alonso – 7: defensively he was immense completing three tackles and five clearances only being notably beaten by Mahrez once. He was a good option on the overlap but Hazard was not on his game and he wasn’t, therefore, picked out as much as his counterpart Moses.
Willian – 7.5: dropped off his game in the second-half and considering the number of times he has carried Chelsea through games in the past few months it really comes as no surprise. He was still however able to play a pivotal role in helping Chelsea break the deadlock, picking the ball up in his own half before driving at the heart of the Leicester deface and playing in Morata with a perfectly weighted pass.
Alvaro Morata – 7: will be mightily relieved to have scored his first goal since Boxing Day, and it was a confident finish from the forward as he took Willian’s ball in his stride before leaning back and curling the ball over Schmeichel. His hold up play was still poor and he couldn’t get Hazard and Willian into the game, but hopefully, the goal will help him kick on again in a Chelsea shirt.
Eden Hazard – 6: good running on and off the ball but as soon as he received the ball in and around the Leicester area he was too slow to find the right ball often playing the ball back and taking the sting out of the attack. A surpassingly conservative attacking performance from the Belgium attacker.
Subs:
Cesc Fabregas – 6: wasn’t much better than Bakayoko in all honesty, his pass accuracy was actually just a couple of percent above the Frenchman’s 79% and he didn’t complete a single key pass. Put in two good blocks as he became more defensively sound in extra time.
Pedro – 7: an instant impact from Pedro and exactly the sort of performance Conte was after. Having come under fire for a generally below-par showing this season, this goal much like Morata’s should hopefully breed some new found confidence.
Gary Cahill – 6: a couple of clearances his major contribution but despite coming on just five minutes before Giroud his position as a defensive asset meant he was far more heavily involved.
Olivier Giroud – N/A: his job was to hold on to the ball and waste time – both of which he did to well enough, but didn’t show enough to warrant a rating.
