90min

Twitter reacts as Chelsea seal FA Cup final place at expense of Crystal Palace

By Sean Walsh

Chelsea will return to Wembley next month
Chelsea will return to Wembley next month / Mike Hewitt/GettyImages
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For the second time this season, Chelsea have booked a cup-final date with Liverpool.

The Reds defeated Manchester City in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final, while the Blues dumped Crystal Palace out of the competition on Easter Sunday.

Chelsea are through to their third successive FA Cup final, but it wasn't always plain sailing at Wembley.

Team news dropped one hour before kick-off, and there was fresh optimism from Chelsea fans that their front three would do the business.

On the other hand, Crystal Palace supporters weren't as cheerful.

There was time for a quick 'Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man' meme moment in the Wembley tunnel.

While Conor Gallagher, ineligible to play today despite a special request from Palace, was also in attendance.

Shortly prior to kick-off, Palace fans put on one hell of a show.

However, the beginning of the game was delayed several times due to the sheer number of balloons that had made their way onto the pitch from the Palace end.

It's a real shame that the match itself wasn't living up to the hype, with neither side registering a shot during the first half of the first half.

But after 24 minutes, we had our first shot - a tame header from Kai Havertz - and our first substitution, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek replacing the injured Mateo Kovacic.

Jorginho's lack of pace was beginning to irk Chelsea fans, continually losing midfield battles and having to be bailed out by quicker teammates.

With 35 minutes on the clock, Cheikhou Kouyate stung the palms of Edouard Mendy before Joachim Andersen's rebound struck the post, though the flag did eventually go up for offside.

At the other end, referee Anthony Taylor - largely despised by the Chelsea faithful - had a decision to make when Havertz took a tumble, but the German was instead correctly booked for diving.

Palace again nearly took the lead again through Kouyate, who headed wide from a corner.

But Chelsea broke the deadlock when Loftus-Cheek fired into the top corner.

And Mason Mount made sure of victory with a well-worked goal 15 minutes from time.

Substitutes Romelu Lukaku and Hakim Ziyech somehow failed to add a third with the clock running down.

But it didn't really matter as Chelsea secured their place in May's final, where they will once again meet Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool.

That said, Palace fans sang their hearts out for 90 minutes and were a credit to their club.

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