Leicester City won the FA Cup for the first time in their history after Youri Tielemans’ long-range strike gave them a tight victory over Chelsea. In the first game back with fans for 6 months, it ended Chelsea 0-1 Leicester at a wet Wembley.
Both sides looked to attack rather than defend in their quest for FA Cup glory, however, the game had a cagey feel to it right up until Leicester broke the deadlock after 65 minutes. Chelsea thought they had forced Extra Time after putting the ball in the back of the net after 89 minutes, however, Chilwell’s effort was so unluckily ruled out after the closest of VAR calls.
TEAM NEWS
After a humbling defeat to mid-table Arsenal in midweek, Tuchel made five changes to the starting line up. Antonio Rüdiger and Marcos Alonso returned to defence in place of Kurt Zouma and Ben Chilwell. Kepa Arrizabalaga retained his place in goal as the Blues’ FA Cup ‘keeper, with Thiago Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta completing the back three and Reece James at right wing-back.
Kanté and Jorginho were the two starting centre midfielders, whilst Hakim Ziyech and Mason Mount supported Timo Werner in attack. Leicester only made one change from their win against Manchester United on Tuesday. It was a significant change however, as Johnny Evans returned to the heart of their defence after a two game absence.
FIRST HALF
The opening ten minutes of the game saw both teams set out their intentions for the match. The fear for Chelsea was that Leicester would sit back, absorb the pressure and look to counter-attack, something Chelsea struggled massively with against Arsenal on Wednesday.
That didn’t appear to be the case though, as both teams looked to impose themselves on proceedings. Leicester pressed high but couldn’t stop Chelsea controlling the majority of possession, with the Blues having had as much as 70% within the first twenty minutes. Despite the attacking intent from both teams, it was a game of typical cup final fashion with chances few and far between. The majority of the early efforts were from distance, with Rüdiger and Werner both unsuccessfully trying their luck from distance for Chelsea.
The closest Chelsea came to breaking the deadlock was through a corner, which found its way through to Thiago Silva at the back post before he clipped a ball back across goal. Waiting to head it home was Azpilicueta, however, a touch from Werner just took the ball away from the Spaniard at the last moment. Leicester were forced into the first change of the game much earlier than they would have liked, after the returning Evans succumbed to his injury and had to be replaced by Marc Albrighton.
The half-time whistle went with the game goalless and whilst Chelsea were mostly on top, they were yet to carve out a major chance to take the lead.
HT: Chelsea 0-0 Leicester
SECOND HALF
After another slow start, Leicester had their best spell of the game so far as the game approached the hour mark. Often keeping Chelsea pinned in their half, the pressure culminated in an unbelievable opening goal. A failed clearance from James deflected off Perez before Leicester worked the ball to Youri Tielemans, who was driving into space right in the centre of the pitch. The Belgian midfielder strode forward until he found himself 25 yards out from goal, before unleashing a drive into the top left corner that left Kepa with no chance as he made it Chelsea 0-1 Leicester.
Chelsea had it all to do with 25 minutes left. A flurry of changes came as Tuchel desperately tried to claw a way back for his side. Callum Hudson-Odoi, Olivier Giroud, Kai Havertz and Ben Chilwell were all brought on. Chelsea pressed on whilst Leicester sat back and protected their lead, in search of their first-ever FA Cup win. It all boiled down to two key moments. Firstly, it was arguably Chelsea’s Player of the Season, Mason Mount, who was in the right place to fire a volley towards goal after a deflection from a cross. His effort was struck excellently and had Chelsea fans almost celebrating before Schmeichel managed to fly across his goal to tip it wide.
Following on from that, Chelsea did get the chance to celebrate as a goalmouth scramble was turned in by Chilwell, ex-Leicester of all people. Chelsea wheeled away to celebrate before eventually having the goal ruled out for the tightest of VAR calls, in the final minute of normal time – it was cruel. The final whistle went soon after, meaning Leicester were crowned FA Cup winners for the first time in their history.
Final Thoughts: FA Cup Final: Chelsea 0-1 Leicester
It wasn’t Chelsea’s day, Tuchel’s side struggled to create anything throughout the afternoon and ultimately have to look at themselves as the main reason behind their downfall this afternoon. The season now all rests on the results of Chelsea’s final two Premier League games, the first being against today’s winners Leicester on Tuesday in a vital game in the top four quest, and also Chelsea’s other final, the Champions League against Manchester City.
Written by Dom Domaingue (@dmdsport)
Edited by Rob Pratley
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