Hakim Ziyech’s goal helped Chelsea reach the FA Cup final for a second consecutive year with a 1-0 win over Manchester City at Wembley.
In a cagey affair, the Blues had the better of the chances and capitalised on the injury of Kevin De Bruyne to score early in the second half before defending resolutely to see out the victory.
The Citizens failed to score for the first time since November as Thomas Tuchel’s side recorded their 14th clean sheet since the German’s takeover.
The defeat was Manchester City’s first defeat in 20 cup matches this season and put an end to their quest for an illusive quadruple.
Chelsea will face either Leicester City or Southampton in the final looking to avenge their defeat to Arsenal in last year’s final to win the club’s ninth FA Cup.
Thomas Tuchel finally gets the better of Pep Guardiola
Tuchel recorded his first victory in six attempts against Pep Guardiola and the German was full of praise for his players for their performance.
Tuchel said: “It was a very strong performance and I’m very happy and proud of the players.
“We played so strong and deserved to win and it could’ve been by more goals too.
“We wanted to enjoy the extra competition against tough opponents and use it to see where we are, so to perform like this on the highest level, I’m very proud of my team.
“We know we are also in the Champions League semi-finals and the fight for the top four in the league so the performances have to stay like this, everybody who is on the pitch has to perform now.
“Now is the moment in the season where we cannot drop a single percent in performance or mentality and that is what we will continue to try and do.”
Cancelling each other out
Both sides came into the game in great form and were cautious of each other’s threats from the start.
However, Chelsea started the brighter and had the ball in the net in the fifth minute through Hakim Ziyech but the goal was ruled out as the provider Timo Werner was adjudged offside in the build-up.
Despite dominating the possession in the opening half-hour the Blues failed to register a shot on target in the first half and the closest they went was through Ben Chilwell’s mistimed volley skewing wide of the post.
Manchester City grew into the game and ended the half on the high as Fernandinho went close but couldn’t direct Sterling’s cross on goal from 12 yards out.
Change of the tide
Following the break the match followed a similar pattern but then turned with the innocuous ankle injury to De Bruyne which forced him to be subbed off.
Chelsea were buoyed by the loss of the Citizen’s talisman and almost identically recreated their offside goal in the first half, as Werner ran in behind before teeing up Ziyech who turned into an empty net but crucially this time the flag stayed down.
Just three minutes later Ziyech spurned a golden opportunity to double the lead as the Moroccan latched onto a misjudged ball from Ruben Dias to go through one-on-one with Zac Steffen but the goalkeeper did well to stand tall and stop the ball with his foot to keep City in the match.
The save kicked Manchester City into gear and the Sky Blues had a glorious chance to level in the 69th minute as Dias headed Rodri’s knockdown over from six yards out.
Chelsea’s pace meant they remained a threat on the counter-attack and Werner broke from his own half but ran out of steam at the crucial moment and his tame effort was comfortably stopped by Steffen.
For all of Manchester City’s endeavor in the final 15 minutes they failed to create any more clear chances as the Blues continued to impress defensively and it was Chelsea who thought they had added gloss to their victory in the 93rd minute as Christian Pulisic found the net but the goal was once again ruled out for offside.
