Chelsea beats Leeds on Fernandez goal and sets up FA Cup final meeting with Man City

Chelsea’s season might be unraveling but it will still include an appearance in the FA Cup final.

Enzo Fernandez’s 23rd-minute header secured Chelsea a 1-0 win over Leeds in the semifinals on Sunday, setting up a meeting with Manchester City in the May 16 title match back at Wembley Stadium.

Chelsea’s run in the FA Cup is salvaging a campaign that has veered off the rails after a humiliating exit from the Champions League — 8-2 on aggregate to Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 — and five straight losses in the Premier League that marks the team’s worst run of league results in 114 years and led to the midweek dismissal of manager Liam Rosenior.

Calum McFarlane, Rosenior’s unheralded and inexperienced assistant, has taken control of Chelsea until the end of the season and he will now be leading the team back out at Wembley next month, in search of what would be the club’s ninth FA Cup title and a first since 2018.

“It was important to break the momentum and the form we were in,” McFarlane said. “We were confident we would do that today and I think this completely changes the feel within the group.”

Fernandez makes amends after controversy

Fernandez met a right-wing cross from Pedro Neto with a firm header low into the net for the only goal. The Argentina midfielder recently courted controversy by speaking publicly about wanting to live in Madrid, earning him a two-match suspension by the team, but McFarlane was happy to give Fernandez the captain’s armband against Leeds.

“He’s a winner — he’s got so much talent, so much fight, he’s massive for this group,” McFarlane said.

Leeds, seeking to reach a first FA Cup final since 1973, piled on the pressure in the second half and Sanchez notably produced a stunning, one-handed save to keep out a piledriver from Anton Stach.

“You could feel the boys were a bit too nervous today to be at their free-flowing best,” said Leeds manager Daniel Farke, whose priority this season has been to keep the team in the Premier League.

“They always had an answer to all our questions that we asked,” he added about Chelsea. “It’s hard to take anyhow, but nevertheless I’m proud of the cup run.”

Chelsea will try to stop City’s treble bid

City rallied to beat second-tier Southampton 2-1 on Saturday to advance to the final and stay on course for a domestic treble. Pep Guardiola’s team already has won the English League Cup and is battling with Arsenal for the Premier League title.

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McFarlane also briefly took charge of Chelsea between the firing of Enzo Maresca and the hiring of Rosenior in January. Of his two games at the helm, one was a 1-1 draw at City in the league.

“They’re an exceptional side in really good form,” McFarlane said of City, where he once had a spell as a coach in its academy. “So it’s going to be a massive challenge but I think there’s something about this (Chelsea) group — the bigger the game, the tougher the opponent and the circumstance, they seem to raise their level.”

Chelsea was most recently in the FA Cup final in 2022, when it lost to Liverpool on penalties. That marked a third straight loss in the competition’s title match and Chelsea has lost its last six domestic cup finals.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer