Double is on for Chelsea and Conte as Londoners reach FA Cup Final

Chelsea beat rivals Tottenham 4-2 in an absorbing FA Cup semi final that had thrills, spills, emotion and some beautiful goals. But it is the Blues that will play either Manchester City or Arsenal in the 2017 FA Cup final.

For Tottenham it was total despair as the club have not reached an FA Cup final since they last won it back in 1991. Chelsea were simply superb especially as manager Antonio Conte was forced to tweak his squad and many thought his slightly weakened Chelsea side would succumb to a Spurs team who had closed the gap in the Premier League to them to just four points.

Willian who had an outstanding game for Chelsea opened the scoring within a quarter of an hour but Tottenham hit back with a splendid strike from who else but Harry Kane just 13 minutes later. Willian got his 2nd of the day after he had converted a penalty which seemed to come at the perfect moment for the Pensioners given that there was just moments left of the first half.

But just seven minutes into the second half Dele Alli had equalised from Tottenham and the game was poised to be anyone’s at 2-2. At that point Conte was forced to bring on Diego Costa and Eden Hazard who he had wanted to rest for this game with the Premier League hotting up, but the Italian simply had no choice but to give the duo playing time at a sold out Wembley Stadium.

Conte’s decision paid dividends when, with 15 minutes remaining, Chelsea’s best player of the season Hazard, a man that has found his form once again put Chelsea 3-2 up. Tottenham who were probably expecting the game to go to extra time before Hazard’s strike, panicked and lost momentum and then Nemadja Matic made it 4-2 to the Blues.

Tottenham have had a tragic week with the news of under 23 coach Ugo Ehiogu’s passing at just 44 years of age. There was a minutes applause before the game and the ex England international’s sudden death has touched the football world. In many ways this match was overshadowed by Ehiogu’s death, but the show had to go on.

With this win Chelsea have put a marker down that they won’t just give up a title that did seem destined towards them for much of the season. That they got the win over their nearest rivals was obviously a huge statement. Now the double is on for Chelsea and they will be hoping that this semi final match is the game to re start their season and take their third title this decade.

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