Chelsea secures place in FA Cup final
`Crucial week' ahead against Brighton and West Ham
LONDON — Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel said his team was closing the gap with Manchester City and their “benchmark” coach Pep Guardiola after the Londoners' 1-0 FA Cup semifinal win on Saturday.
The victory for the Blues — Tuchel's first over Guardiola — contrasted with a 3-1 drubbing at home by City in early January, which hastened the departure of former Chelsea boss Frank Lampard and his replacement by Tuchel.
“If you play against Pep, you know that you play against the highest level in Europe because everywhere where he was on the sidelines, with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and now Manchester City, he was the benchmark for years with his teams and he is again,” Tuchel said.
“Our target is to close the gap for the 90 minutes because it's possible in football and if you arrive in a good momentum, you can make this happen,” he said.
“I am very, very happy and proud of the performance of our team because we played with a lot of courage.”
Saturday's win — secured with a 55th-minute goal by Morocco forward Hakim Ziyech — leaves Chelsea in the hunt for silverware in the May 15 FA Cup final against either Leicester City or Southampton, and in the Champions League with a semifinal clash looming against Real Madrid.
Tuchel said beating Manchester City would give the young players in his squad a confidence boost but he reminded them that they now faced a “crucial week” in the Premier League.
Chelsea hosts Brighton on Tuesday and travels next Saturday to West Ham United, who are locked in a battle with the Blues for a top-four finish.
Guardiola congratulated Chelsea for their win but said the match could have gone either way.
“It was a tight game. Anything could happen,” he said.
PROMOTION WITHOUT PLAY
Norwich City clinched promotion to the Premier League with five games to spare on Saturday after rivals Brentford and Swansea City failed to win their Championship matches, guaranteeing Daniel Farke's leaders one of the automatic promotion places.
Norwich sealed an immediate return to the top flight — which has been worth at least US$221.3 million in previous seasons — having finished bottom of the Premier League in the 2019-20 campaign.
Brentford played out a 0-0 stalemate with visitors Millwall, while Swansea fought back from two goals down to claim a point in a 2-2 home draw against basement side Wycombe Wanderers. Farke revealed that his players were following the matches from their hotel rooms but they did not expect to secure promotion without having to kick a ball themselves.
“It's a bit surreal when you're promoted a few hours before kick off,” the delighted German coach said before Saturday's home match against Bournemouth.
SHEFFIELD'S UNWANTED RECORD
Sheffield United's relegation from the Premier League was sealed when they lost 1-0 at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
Sheffield United finished in the top half last season on their return to the top flight but have looked relegation favourites for a long time after taking two points from their opening 17 games of this campaign.
Willian Jose's first goal for Wolves did the damage in the 59th minute, meaning Sheffield United now share the unwanted record of being relegated after 32 Premier League games, set by Derby County and Huddersfield Town.