CHELSEA booked their place in the FA Cup final with Mason Mount and Timo Werner impressing again.
It was a tense affair at Wembley with neither the Blues nor Crystal Palace creating many openings.
So when the ball fell kindly for Ruben Loftus-Cheek to smash in on the half-volley he had to take his chance, and did.
Loftus-Cheek was quiet after coming on as a first-half substitute for the injured Mateo Kovacic, with his midfield partner Jorginho the more efficient out of the two.
The Brazilian was one of Chelsea’s better players alongside Reece James, Andreas Christensen and Mason Mount, who added a second for Thomas Tuchel’s side 11 minutes after the opener.
However, Kai Havertz was disappointing again after missing a hatful of chances against Real Madrid in mid-week.
Here is how SunSport’s Kealan Hughes rated Chelsea’s semi-final winning display.
Edouard Mendy – 7
An amazing save down low to his left to stop Cheikhou Kouyate’s strike which kept things level going into half-time.
Was mostly untroubled after that point but did show a good command of his area at Palace set-pieces.
Cesar Azpilicueta – 6
Got forward when he could be lacked a bit of quality in the final third, although it was his tenacity winning the ball back that led to the opening goal.
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Did well defensively in supporting James against Zaha and kept Eberechi Eze quiet when he moved over to Palace’s left wing.
Reece James – 8
Was deployed as a right-sided centre-back again after impressing in that role against Real Madrid in mid-week.
He was given the responsibility of keeping Wilfried Zaha quiet which he did well and also kept possession effectively throughout.
Andreas Christensen – 7
Played the Thiago Silva role in the Brazilian’s absence and was effective in preventing Crystal Palace counter attacks.
He also kept a tight lid on Zaha after he moved into a central role in the second half – Chelsea’s chiefs will be hoping the Dane signs a new deal with his contract up in the summer.
Antonio Rudiger – 7
Says a lot about his performance that Jean-Philippe Mateta tried to keep away from him and instead tried to get the better of Christensen.
Confident on the ball too with one brilliant pass to set Werner away late on in the game.
Marcos Alonso – 5
Solid if unspectacular as has been the case for much of the season.
He needed to get into the box more with Crystal Palace penned in for large spells.
Mateo Kovacic – 5
Some tidy touches and kept possession well but was forced off with injury after 25 minutes.
Jorginho – 8
The midfielder was a lot better than he has been recently with all of Chelsea’s play going through him.
Looked fresher than his team-mates after only coming on as a substitute at the Bernabeu and tried to make things happening by finding the killer pass to Timo Werner or Kai Havertz.
Mason Mount – 7
Snatched at a half-volley chance in the first half and was generally in and out of the game.
But his class showed as he played a superb one-two with Timo Werner before slotting the ball into the bottom corner to double Chelsea’s lead – his fourth goal in three games.
Timo Werner – 7
His runs in behind the Palace defence were Chelsea’s main threat and he really came alive as Patrick Vieira’s side tired late on.
But he did not get the clear sight of goal he was looking for thanks to some good defending from Joachim Anderson in particular.
The German did not give up though and he played a wonderful pass into Mount to set-up his goal. Should have had a second assist but Romelu Lukaku somehow hit the post when it was easier to score.
Kai Havertz – 5
Quiet until he was booked for a dive in an attempt to win a penalty.
Similarly to Werner he was crowded out by Palace’s five-man defence but moved around the pitch in search of the ball so the effort was there.
Subs
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (for Kovacic, 26′) – 7
Struggled to get into the game after coming on but made the decisive impact when he smashed Chelsea in front mid-way through the second half.
Made a couple of his trademark powerful runs too to help pile the pressure on the Eagles.
N’Golo Kante (for Jorginho, 78′) – 5
Broke up play well which was all that was needed after coming on with his side already 2-0 up.
Hakim Ziyech (for Mount, 77′) – 5
Did not influence much and should have scored when he followed up Lukaku’s embarrassing miss – his effort was cleared off the line.
Romelu Lukaku (for Havertz, 77′) – 4
Made a good impact after Havertz struggled to get anything out of the Palace backline – one good cutback in particular that Ziyech could have scored from.
But his woes in front of goal continued as he somehow hit the post from five yards out with the goal gaping.
Thiago Silva (for Christensen, 82′) – 6
Did not have much to do with Palace losing belief in the last ten minutes.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
