Antonio wants to bury memory of final defeat

ANTONIO CONTE vowed to make amends for last season’s FA Cup heartache after Chelsea booked a semi-final clash with Southampton. ‘This trophy is very important,’ said Conte. ‘Last season, it was a pity to lose the final. This season our target is to do our best to reach the final again. ‘When we are able to reach the final, I want to try to change the final result compared to last season.’ Chelsea have won the FA Cup seven times but were beaten 2-1 by Arsenal last year, a defeat that denied Conte the Double in his first season in English football. Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech helped with the semi-final draw on TV and did his former club a favour by securing them a tie with relegation-threatened Southampton, rather than Manchester United or Tottenham. ‘Easy draw?’ said the Chelsea boss. ‘As you know very well, I think when you arrive at this point of the tournament, it’s very difficult to consider any game easy. Don’t forget Manchester City were eliminated by Wigan. ‘We must be ready to fight to reach the final at Wembley for the second time in a row. It will be very important for us, but we have to know that Southampton have the same idea as us. It will be very difficult.’ Jamie Vardy cancelled out Alvaro Morata’s opener but Leicester were unable to stop the champions in extra time. ‘We are frustrated,’ said manager Claude Puel, who refused to criticise goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel for his error which led to Pedro’s winning goal. ‘We cannot blame Kasper,’ said Puel. ‘He has been fantastic since the beginning, and made fantastic saves in the game. ‘It was a team effort today. There’s nothing to blame Kasper for. We had chances to come back into the game.’