Photo: The Emirates FA Cup Trophy (Getty Images)
After the dust had settled on the quarterfinal matches of the FA Cup, the final four for the semifinals were decided leaving two mouth-watering clashes for fans to enjoy as Chelsea will face Manchester City and Leicester will go up against Southampton at Wimbledon.
The excitement of the quarterfinal matches began with a lineup of Southampton versus Bournemouth with Southampton being the first club to qualify for the FA Cup semifinals. Southampton advanced to the semifinals with a 3-0 victory over their hosts, Championship club Bournemouth.
Determined to shake off their series of Premier League misfortunes, the Saints commanded both the ball and the attention of spectators from the beginning of the game to the last whistle. Nathan Redmond played a huge role in this as he managed to score two of the goals and assisted with the other.
They took the lead at minute 37 courtesy of Moussa Djenepo with an assist from Redmond after an early attempt at a goal from Bournemouth’s Cameron Carter-Vickers was shot down by VAR.
Redmond doubled the score near the end of the first half, giving their opponents very little hope of recovering. Redmond then put the game to bed with a third of the match remaining to send Southampton to their second FA Cup semifinal in 18 seasons. The last time Southampton was seen in the semis was in 2017-18 where they were defeated by the Chelsea, the eventual winners of that year.
The second quarterfinal match saw returning champions Manchester City and Everton going head-to-head. Manchester City came out victorious with a final score of 2-0, but not without a fight from Everton.
Guardiola’s team managed to dominate possession in the first half of the game, but the ultimate battle was reserved for the second half. Manchester City created many opportunities in the game with two late goals were scored by Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne late in the game at minutes 84 and 90 respectively seeing them through to the last four.
Everton put up a disciplined game and tried to defend as best as they could as a united front, but at the end of the day it was Guardiola who brought his team to the semifinals for the third consecutive season.
Fans might have been disappointed by the missed goals from Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden, but even the most critical cannot deny that they put up an honorable fight and got the job done.
Chelsea and Sheffield United were the next teams on show in a fight to the death at Stamford Bridge. Despite getting a run for their money for a semifinal spot from Sheffield United, Tuchel’s men emerged victorious. It was Chelsea’s tenth victory of fourteen matches since Tuchel took over from Frank Lampard in January.
Chelsea asserted themelves and took the lead in the 24th minute through a deflection of Ben Chilwell’s strike by Oliver Norwood that went into his own goal to give Chelsea an early advantage.
Christian Pulisic had a wonderful opportunity to double the score, but it was blocked by Sheffield goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale who was determined to correct Norwood’s mistake.
The Blues’ iced the game when substitute Hakim Ziyech performed a brilliant counterattack on a wide ball from David McGoldrick in the second minute of stoppage time.
In a match where the pressure was on to secure the final spot in the semifinals, Leicester kicked Manchester United out of the race with a 3-1 win.
Leicester attempted to secure an early lead at minute 17 by Jamie Vardy, but his premature efforts were blocked by a determined Dean Henderson. Not to be deterred by this, they took the lead less than 10 minutes later when Kelechi Iheanacho picked off a bad pass from Fred and slotted home pass Henderson.
Mason Greenwood scored the lone goal for Manchester United at minute 38 to equalize before halftime. The tied score did not last too long after the break as Leicester pounced again to get back their lead through Youri Tielemans at minute 52. By minute 78, Iheanacho was back again with a free kick to continue what he had started in the first half.
Solskjaer took Cavani and Fernandes off the bench at an attempt to equalize after Tielemans’ goal, but it just could not be achieved.
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