Chelsea beats Leicester in crunch top-four battle
CHELSEA avenged their FA Cup final defeat by Leicester to move above the Foxes into third in the Premier League with a 2-1 win in front of 8 000 fans at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. Antonio Rudiger and Jorginho, from the penalty spot, scored the goals for Thomas Tuchel’s men to keep a place in next season’s Champions League in their own hands.
However, victory came at a cost for the Blues as N’Golo Kante limped off injured in the first half, just 11 days before they face Manchester City in the Champions League final.
Victory away to Aston Villa on Sunday will guarantee Chelsea a top-four finish. Leicester will forever have the memories of winning the FA Cup for the first time at Wembley on Saturday, but are now at risk of missing out on Champions League football on the final day of the campaign for the second consecutive season.
Brendan Rodgers’s men still lead Liverpool by three points, but the Reds will go fourth on goal difference if they win at Burnley on Wednesday. Leicester host Tottenham on the final day, while Jurgen Klopp’s men welcome Crystal Palace to Anfield.
Roared on by the biggest attendance at Stamford Bridge in over 14 months, Chelsea exploded out of the blocks with Leicester barely able to get out of their own half in the first 45 minutes.
However, a combination of Kasper Schmeichel and controversial refereeing kept the hosts at bay until the break.
Chelsea were denied in a dramatic end to the cup final by a VAR review which ruled out Ben Chilwell’s goal for offside.
Timo Werner had two more goals disallowed in the first half as the German international was firstly flagged offside before his second effort was ruled out by a VAR review for handball.
But in-between, Werner was rightly dismayed when he was somehow denied a penalty.
Youri Tielemans’ stunning strike was the difference between the sides three days ago, but the Belgian was caught dallying on the ball inside his own box by Werner, and kicked the former RB Leipzig striker as he attempted to clear.