Resurgent Chelsea into FA Cup final
LONDON: Chelsea beat Manchester City 10 yesterday to book a place in next month’s FA Cup final thanks to a secondhalf goal by Hakim Ziyech that extended a remarkable turnaround since manager Thomas Tuchel took over as Blues coach in January.
By contrast, City manager Pep Guardiola, who made eight changes to the side which beat Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in midweek, saw his dream of steering it to an unprecedented quadruple of titles come to an end.
Ziyech scored in the 55th minute when he tapped into an empty net from a cross by Timo Werner with City goalkeeper Zack Steffen in noman’s land after racing off his line to close Werner down but then seeming to change his mind.
‘‘You always have to have the feeling before the game that you want to score,’’ the Morocco winger, who has struggled to find his form after arriving at Stamford Bridge from Ajax Amsterdam last year, told the BBC.
‘‘It was a good delivery and I put it in easy,’’ he said.
The victory at an empty Wembley Stadium, with fans not allowed to attend due to Covid19 restrictions, leaves Tuchel in the hunt for two trophies with the Blues also in the Champions League semifinals where they face Real Madrid.
Norwich City has clinched promotion to the English Premier League with five games to spare after rivals Brentford and Swansea City failed to win their Championship matches, guaranteeing Daniel Farke’s leadet one of the automatic promotion places.
The Canaries sealed an immediate return to the top flight, which has been worth at least £160 million pounds ($NZ310 million) in previous seasons, having finished bottom of the Premier League in the 201920 campaign.
Not even a 31 defeat later yesterday by playoffchasing Bournemouth took the gloss of the achievement, sealed thanks to Brentford playing out a 00 stalemate with Millwall and Swansea City drawing 22 against bottom club Wycombe Wanderers.
Meanwhile, Sheffield United’s relegation from the Premier League was sealed when it lost 10 at Wolverhampton Wanderers yesterday.
The defeat left the Yorkshire club 19 points behind fourthbottom Burnley with a maximum of 18 remaining.
Sheffield United finished in the top half last season on its return to the top flight but has looked relegation favourite for a long time after taking two points from its opening 17 games of this campaign.
Newcastle has taken a big step towards Premier League safety with a 32 win over 10man West Ham, after firsthalf blunders ensured the visiting side missed a chance to solidify its topfour spot.
Joe Willock came off the bench to be the hero again yesterday after heading in the winner just minutes after the Hammers had equalised through Jesse Lingard’s penalty at St James’ Park.
In yesterday’s other game, Tottenham drew 22 at Everton. — Reuters/AAP