Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United: match report and FA Cup draw
Ander Herrera was sent off in the first half as N'Golo Kanté fired Chelsea into a semi-final with Tottenham. Arsenal play Man City in the other tieManchester United v. Manchester City live online
2016/17 FA Cup semi-final draw
Chelsea vs Tottenham Hotspur
Arsenal vs Manchester City
The ties will be played at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 April.
Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United: match summary
Manchester United won't be retaining their trophy - and Chelsea remain in the hunt for an eighth FA Cup. José Mourinho's men made a decent start, but once the hosts came alive and Ander Herrera saw red, the Blues had the upper hand from there on in. A Marcus Rashford run and shot aside, the 10-man visitors were unable to create much of real note, and N'Golo Kanté's second-half strike was enough to send his side into the last four, where they'll face city rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United: how it happened
Peeeeep! And that's that!
Min 94 | Michy Batshuayi comes on for the final seconds for Costa, who's been more 'bad Diego' than 'good Diego' tonight, if you know what I mean.
Min 91 | Chelsea break up the other end, where Fàbregas has two shooting chances to put United to the sword, but sees the first well saved by De Gea and the second blocked by a red shirt.
Min 90 | Four minutes of time added on. Rashford skips past Alonso and flashes it low into the box, where it's out for a corner, which finally falls to Smalling - who gifts it straight back to the hosts.
Min 87 | Costa loses it (in both senses of the phrase) and flies in on Jones, rightly earning himself a place in the referee's book. Moses then comes off with what looks like a knock, and Kurt Zouma is on.
Min 85 | Chelsea have the United defence furiously back-pedalling as Costa curls a neat low ball forward that's picked up by Alonso on the left, who immediately seeks to ping it into the box for Hazard, who'd have had a tap-in if it had reached him. Valencia is back well and in position to cut it out, though.
Min 83 | There's a shooting chance for Pogba... but he drags it well wide! He's done sweet Fanny Adams tonight.
Min 81 | On comes Fàbregas for Willian, while Jesse Lingard replaces Young for United, who have ten minutes to save their stranglehold on the Cup.
Min 78 | Young flies in Moses, and Michael Oliver whips out a yellow card. Cesc Fàbregas is being readied on the Chelsea bench.
Min 75 | Should be two! Willian absolutely skins Rojo on the edge of the box, his first touch taking him away from the defender and into the box, where he cuts it across goal for the arriving Costa - who somehow contrives to miss the ball altogether.
Min 74 | This is attack vs defence.
Min 71 | The corner doesn't immediately come to anything, but Chelsea pass it around patiently before finding Willian in shooting space on the right of the box, the Brazilian slapping an effort towards the near post that De Gea has to be smart to parry behind.
Min 70 | Kanté gets to the byline and crosses, but it's headed behind. That Rashford run aside, it's been all in United's half. Now Moses runs at the away defence, only for Smalling to nip in and send it out for a corner on the other side.
Min 65 | Oh, Diego. Willian chips it over the top for the run of the Spain international who's rightly flagged offside. Rojo jogs over to grab the ball and barely collides with the striker, who flops to the floor like a sack of spuds. Pah.
Min 61 | Rojo goes in on Costa in the box, Chelsea shout for a penalty... but there's nothing doing. Good challenge by the Argentine.
Min 60 | Now Willian looks to curl a 20-yard effort into De Gea's top corner, but is juuust off target.
Min 59 | No sooner do United break and almost equalise, than Chelsea sprint up the other end and almost make it two. Azipilicueta bursts into the area and chips to Willian in acres at the back post, but the Brazilian tries to knock it back to Costa instead of shooting, and United scramble it clear. Costa then heads the resulting corner wide.
Min 58 | And just as I say that... United pump it forward, Luiz misses it, and all of a sudden Rashford is running at Cahill, who's the last man, skips by the defender and into the box, and is one-on-one with Thibaut Courtois - but the Belgian keeper saves! United's best chance by a mile so far.
Min 57 | Chelsea come again, but Moses is caught offside. United are struggling to regain a foothold here. As things stand, that four-and-a-half-year winless run against Chelsea is in line to continue.
Min 55 | Azpilicueta has another dig from range. Once again, it's high.
Min 51 | Goooooal! Kanté fires Chelsea ahead! Unless I'm mistaken, United had everyone behind the ball there - but Pogba doesn't get nearly tight enough on his compatriot, and the former Leicester City man makes the most of his space to shoot low from 20-odd yards and into the corner past De Gea's dive!
Min 49 | Chelsea make their first serious foray forward, César Azpilicueta bending it into the box towards Costa - but the striker is beaten to it. Azpilicueta is then back on the ball and fancies a ping at goal from range. It doesn't go well.
Min 46 | Pogba immediately wins a free-kick in whipping-it-into-the-mixer territory, but Ashley Young's delivery is deplorable, and Chelsea clear.
Peeeep! We're back underway in West London.
Chelsea 0-0 Manchester United: half-time summary
Following a quiet start, Chelsea really came to life - chiefly thanks to Eden Hazard and his scampering brand of havoc-wreaking - and created much the clearest chances to break the deadlock. It all boiled over somewhat after Ander Herrera's dismissal on the half hour mark, though, and in the final quarter of an hour there was somewhat less football and distinctly more handbag-brandishing.
On that Herrera sending-off: having just seen replays of Michael Oliver appearing to warn United just before his second yellow about their persistent fouling of Hazard, that does offer some context that explains his subsequent decision to book the Spaniard - and suggests the midfielder should have known better. Taken in isolation, though, I'm far from convinced the challenge itself merited a yellow.
Chelsea 0-0 Manchester United: first half
Peeeep! That's half time.
Min 45 | Two minutes of time added on at the Bridge.
Min 43 | That was Herrera's second sending-off this season, incidentally. Mourinho is again unhappy after Cahill brings down Rashford and isn't shown a yellow.
Min 40 | Victor Moses shoots over the bar, before Oliver has to step over to the touchline to have a word with the managers after a spot of argy-bargy following a challenge by Antonio Valencia on Marcos Alonso. Now that's not like them.
Min 36 | After a look at the replay of that Herrera foul, that seems very harsh indeed. The resulting free-kick came to nought, by the way, Diego Costa penalised for jumping into De Gea. That one also seemed a little on the rigorous side, incidentally.
Min 34 | Crikey! Herrera brings down Hazard and the referee brandishes a second yellow! United down to ten men with half an hour gone! On the touchline, José Mourinho smirks in disbelief, before readying Marouane Fellaini, who comes on for the unfortunate Mkhitaryan.
Min 30 | Whenever Hazard picks it up with room to run at United, he looks like doing something. This time he drives towards De Gea's goal down the left-hand channel and doesn't need a second invitation to have a dig - but it's over.
Min 27 | Just as I say that, Hazard has another chance to run at the United defence, but Paul Pogba slides in on the Belgian... fairly, says Michael Oliver. The guests break up the other end, but Rashford's low ball into the middle is troubling no-one.
Min 25 | Manchester United were on the ropes for a few minutes there, but appear to have restored a bit of calm to the proceedings.
Min 19 | United had had the better of the opening exchanges, but Chelsea have come alive now. Ander Herrera becomes the first man into the book after blocking off Hazard, who is in a bit of pain. We've just seen a reply of the initial spin that bought Hazard the space to run at the visiting backline earlier. Woof.
Min 16 | Close for Chelsea! Twice! Eden Hazard turns beautifully away from Chris Smalling and skips into the box past another red shirt before firing a low shot towards David de Gea's far post...but the Spanish keeper pushes it just wide! From the resulting corner, Gary Cahill chests it down and thumps it goalwards - but De Gea is down to pull off a terrific save!
Min 14 | Here's a moment of danger for the away side to deal with, though. Matteo Darmian fouls Willian ten yards or so outside of the box, and free-kick specialists David Luiz and Willian are standing over it. They try some sort of combined training ground routine and make an utter mess of it, though. Kanté then has a shooting chance from range, but sees his effort blocked.
Min 12 | Uff! Rashford chases a long ball down on the edge of the box, Henkrikh Mkhitaryan picks it up and has a first sight of goal - but pings a low shot wide. It's not been terribly entertaining thus far, but United have started much the better.
Min 9 | N'Golo Kanté loses it and Marcus Rashford has a chance to run at the Chelsea defence, but the youngster is run off the ball. It's mostly been in the home team's half so far, but with neither side able to create anything of note, Rojo's header aside.
Min 6 | Not a whole lot has happened. United haven't conceded, so things are already going better for them than last time.
Min 3 | Despite indications United would be mirroring Chelsea's 3-4-3, the visitors appear to be in a 4-2-3-1, with Phil Jones in a midfield role.
Min 2 | Manchester United win themselves an early corner, which Marcos Rojo gets his bonce to and sends high, wide and handsome.
Peeeep! Michael Oliver gets us up and running at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea vs Manchester United: team news
Chelsea XI: Courtois, Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill, Moses, Kante, Matic, Alonso, Willian, Diego Costa, Hazard
Manchester United XI: De Gea, Valencia, Jones, Smalling, Rojo, Darmian, Herrera, Pogba, Young, Mkhitaryan, Rashford
Chelsea vs Manchester United: latest news
20:41 | Out they come! Chelsea's version of The Liquidator tune is quite enjoyable.
20:40 | The teams are in the tunnel, waiting patiently while the Stamford Bridge crowd are treated to some sort of lightness-and-darkness disco show.
20:35 | Ten minutes to kick-off: in the blue corner, seven-time FA Cup winners; in the red corner, the competition's holders and joint-most successful team, with 12 trophies. A place in the semi-final draw alongside Man City, Arsenal and Spurs awaits.
20:30 | And, of course, something will have to give this evening, what with no replays and all. Chelsea's unbeaten run against the Red Devils is 11 games, going back to October 2012, in case you were wondering.
20:25 | Chelsea may not have knocked out the Cup holders since the mid-60s, but United haven't beaten the Blues in any competition in four and a half years, either. Blimey Charlie. As they say, something's got to give.
20:20 | Rashford, who has scored three goals in two FA Cup appearances for United this season, is "looking good" in the warm-up, says the BBC's Phil McNulty.
20:10 | Oooh, here's an interesting stat: Chelsea haven't eliminated the holders of the FA Cup since way back in 1966, when they beat Bill Shankly's Liverpool in the third round.
20:05 | The respective benches are... Chelsea: Begovic, Terry, Zouma, Chalobah, Fabregas, Pedro, Batshuayi. Manchester United: Romero, Bailly, Blind, Carrick, Fellaini, Lingard, Mata.
20:00 | Chelsea team news: two changes for the Blues, Cesc Fàbregas making way for Nemanja Matic and Willian coming in for Pedro.
19:50 | Manchester United team news: Marcus Rashford has clearly been on the Lemsip Max Strength - the 19-year-old starts up front. United make four changes to the team that drew in Russia.
19:45 | Billiard table or no billiard table, however, Mourinho will be sending his charges out onto a pitch on which the home side have won 12 in a row in all competitions. Eek.
19:35 | One assumes the pitch in West London will have had fewer toys flying across the Lowry Hotel presidential suite than Rostov's insult to cabbage patches. It was jolly ropey the other night.
19:30 | No such luxury for Red Devils boss Mourinho, who took his United side all the way to Russia in the Europa League on Thursday, where they played out a hard-fought last-16 first-leg draw with FC Rostov.
19:25 | Conte has a fully fit squad to choose from and, with Chelsea having last played seven days ago, the Blues have had a full week to prepare for their first Cup meeting with United since a lovely Demba Ba volley saw them prevail at the same stage in an April 2013 replay at the Bridge.
19:12 | As for United, it'll be mighty interesting to see how Mourinho lines his charges up in attack, given that the Portuguese boss returns to face his former employers with no available recognised strikers.
19:10 | We'll be bringing you team news from Stamford Bridge as soon as it comes in, with home boss Antonio Conte expected to make few (or no) changes to the side that beat West Ham a week ago.
19:00 | The FA Cup semi-finals aren't the FA Cup semi-finals if one of them isn't played at Villa Park.
18:45 | Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal are the other three teams in the pot for the two last-four ties, to be played at (sigh) Wembley on Saturday 22 April and Sunday 23 April.
18:40 | One suspects that Messrs Gullit and Neville will go about their drawing duties with slightly less, ahem, 'elan' than Rod Stewart earlier this year.
18:35 | The semi-final draw takes place after tonight's final last-eight clash at Stamford Bridge, with Ruud Gullit and Phil Neville on ball-plucking duty.
17:50 | Andrea Pirlo, New York City FC midfielder and master of suave, played for Antonio Conte at Juventus. They won three titles together in Turin, and Pirlo thinks the current Chelsea boss is 'a genius'.
17:15 | Eden Hazard floundered at Chelsea last season under Mourinho, but he has been energised by Antonio Conte. The Belgian is enjoying the current regime at Stamford Bridge.
16:30 | If United triumph tonight, a Manchester Derby at Wembley could await in the semi-finals. Pep's Manchester City eased through the quarter-final stage with a 0-2 victory at Middlesbrough.
15:50 | Manchester United talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic will play no part this evening, following his elbow on Bournemouth's Tyrone Mings. The Swede, now 35 years old, is no stranger to martial arts; he received a black belt in taekwondo at the age of 17.
13:00 | Antonio Conte was not going to rise to Mourinho's pre-match baiting and rejected the Portuguese coach's claims that he has turned Chelsea into a counter-attacking team: "José Mourinho wrote a good part of the history of Chelsea. He won a lot with the players. He did a great job here in Chelsea. It's important, always, not to forget this," the Italian said.
11:15 | Mourinho added that he has got over the 4-0 thrashing his old club dealt United in his first return to Stamford Bridge back in October and insisted he is not out for revenge: "Am I sadder to lose against Chelsea than against another team? No. Am I happier to win against Chelsea than another team? No".
10:40 | United manager José Mourinho feels that Chelsea go into the game at an advantage for not being involved in European competition, telling reporters: "The most difficult thing to have is time to work, and they have time to work. They are in a position of privilege - the same privilege that Liverpool had a couple of years ago but I don't want to say that they don't deserve credit for it".
10:15 | Chelsea's Eden Hazard has built up quite a collection of personal and collective accolades and he told the club's TV channel that he is keen to add an elusive FA Cup winners' medal to his list.
Chelsea vs Manchester United: preview
Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are all in Monday's semi final draw for the 2016/17 FA Cup. Which side will join them in the draw which is set to be held at Stamford Bridge immediately after the Chelsea-United game?
Current form would suggest that the home side will have too much for their Old Trafford visitors who travel to South West London with a much depleted side.
Then there's the sub-plot: a Jose Mourinho return to Chelsea will never fail to generate headlines as the Portuguese coach returns to the club where he won eight titles with "The Blues" and the Setubal born manager looking for revenge after the 4-0 loss in the Premier League in October.
Chelsea
Antonio Conte will field his strongest side in the competition to date with a Wembley semi final date just one game away for the Blues as they aim for a league and cup double.
With a comfortable ten point lead at the top of the Premier League table, the Italian coach has only one major injury concern going into the cup quarter final tie with David Luiz a doubt with a knee problem.
Chelsea are expected to start with their 3-4-3 formation with Pedro, Hazard and Diego Costa entrusted to trouble the United rear-guard.
In his pre-match press conference Antonio Conte was full of praise for United's Paul Pogba having worked with then French international at Juventus.
Conte claimed: ‘I don’t like to talk about the players of the other teams, but in this case, with Paul, I have had the opportunity in the past to train him and, yes, we are talking about a top player in all the situations,’ he said.
‘We are working to try to find the right solution for the whole team, not only for Pogba or for one individual player. We are studying Manchester United to try to find the right solution. Paul is a really good player, we must pay great attention to him, but it’s right to think about the whole Manchester United team because this team is very strong.’
Player to watch: Diego Costa. With 18 goals in all competitions this season, the Spain international is having an excellent season in West London.
Manchester United
The Old Trafford outfit are also pushing for a double but in the case of the Red Devils its the FA Cup and Europa League trophy with United out of contention for the Premier League for some time now as they currently trail Chelsea by 17points.
United travel to Stamford Bridge without a recognised forward on Monday after Wayne Rooney, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial were all ruled out by manager Jose Mourinho.
The FA Cup holders were already without the suspended Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the quarterfinal tie against the Premier League leaders.
But United have confirmed that Rooney and Martial will miss out due to injury, with England prospect Rashford missing due to an illness.
In his pre-game press conference the Portuguese coach claimed: "We don’t have Zlatan, of course not, but we go with everything we have. We don’t put a weakened team out like some clubs sometimes - Manchester United cannot do that".
"We know this Europa League is very important for us, and the FA Cup is beautiful. Manchester United is Manchester United; it's the winner of this competition"
Player to watch: Paul Pogba: Capable of magic on occasion and by the same token capable of stumbling his way through a game. A big night for the French player to take the limelight.
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