Chelsea 2-0 Crystal Palace: Blues zoom into third consecutive FA Cup final

After the heartache of crashing out of the Champions League, Chelsea are still in with a shout of winning a trophy in what has been a very difficult season for the Blues.

Thomas Tuchel’s men secured their place in a third successive FA Cup final courtesy of second-half goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount who powered them to a 2-0 victory over fellow London club, Crystal Palace, at Wembley on Sunday.

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Chelsea have won 10 matches in a row against Palace across all competitions a development that made Sunday’s triumph not outrightly surprising.

The Blues appear to have mastered the act of reaching the FA Cup final in recent years, contesting in four of the past five.

Unlike Saturday’s contest between Manchester City and Liverpool, neither Chelsea nor Palace showed much inhalation in attack during a cagey opening 45 minutes.

But a couple of kind deflections helped substitute Loftus-Cheek break the deadlock just past the hour.

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It was Loftus-Cheek’s first Chelsea goal since May 2019, and Mount’s finish soon after ensured the Blues will face Liverpool for the trophy.

Chance for revenge

Liverpool beat Chelsea on penalties at Wembley earlier this year to lift the EFL Cup, so the Blues will hope to avoid being beaten twice by the Reds who are eyeing an unprecedented quadruple

Unfortunately, Chelsea’s record in the recent FA Cup finals is not great as they have only won just one of four.

With back-to-back losses against Arsenal and Leicester City in their last tries, Chelsea would not want to be the first team to lose three finals in a row.

Chelsea will face Liverpool in the final on May 14. But first, another London derby awaits them on Wednesday as they host Arsenal in the Premier League.