Chelsea: 5 key takeaways from victory over Manchester United
Chelsea have booked their ticket to the FA Cup final.
On Sunday, Chelsea beat Manchester United 3-1 in the FA Cup semifinals to advance to the final of England’s most famed cup competition, where they will face archrivals Arsenal.
Olivier Giroud and Mason Mount both scored for the Blues, as did Harry Maguire into his own net, while a Bruno Fernandes penalty after a clumsy challenge by substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi gave United a consolation goal.
Against the most in-form team in the country, spoiled with attacking talent, the Chelsea defence stood firm, and they shut down their opponents.
At the same time, the attackers created chance after chance and took advantage, giving manager Frank Lampard a crucial win and a shot at winning a competition he won four times as a Chelsea player.
Here are some thoughts on this very significant game.
1. Lampard gets it spot-on this time
After successfully beating Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool, Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, Jose Mourinho and Tottenham, etc. the Blues boss received criticism for his inability to best Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who he lost to three times this season.
After this game, though, there will be no such judgment. Every decision he made, he was rewarded for on the night.
The first and most obvious decision was playing with a back three, which worked to perfection. Against a side who would challenge Chelsea head-on, Lampard fortified his defence, and through that fortified his attack.
The defensive trio of Antonio Rudiger, Kurt Zouma and Cesar Azpilicueta, with Reece James and Marcos Alonso as wingbacks, worked to perfection. James, in particular, had a stormer of a game, both at the back and going forward.
One of the best parts about playing Azpilicueta, a natural fullback, in a back three is that he likes to go forward and create an overload on the right flank, which means more crosses going in and more accurate ones as well.
This happened for Giroud’s goal, as Azpilicueta, playing centre-back, got in behind the backline and played an excellent ball for the Frenchman, who put it in the back of the net.
Another important call was sticking with Jorginho, who was very poor in the previous match against Norwich, being slow and careless in possession. Today, though, he was reminiscent of his early-season form, patrolling the midfield excellently.
He not only distributed the ball effectively but looked solid defensively and made some key passes in forward areas too. With this type of performance, Lampard may think twice about selling him in the summer.
Lampard got the better of Ole in every way on Sunday, which will be a psychological blow for United as well as a massive boost for Chelsea, with a comprehensive victory over top-four rivals.