Chelsea beat Palace 2-0 to book FA Cup final against Liverpool

LONDON: Chelsea reached their third straight FA Cup final with a hard-earned 2-0 win over Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium on Sunday (Apr 17) to set up a showdown with quadruple-chasing Liverpool.

Second-half goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount fired Thomas Tuchel's side to victory in the semi-final and secured a place in the May 14 showpiece match versus Liverpool, who beat Manchester City 3-2 on Saturday.

In their fifth FA Cup final appearance in six years, Chelsea will look to make amends after being runners-up to Leicester City and Arsenal in the last two seasons and also try to avenge their League Cup final loss to Liverpool in February.

"I'm happy to be part of another FA Cup final," Tuchel said. "It's a huge competition. I'm very grateful and we'll be ready."

After an attritional first hour, a patient Chelsea side finally broke Palace's stubborn resistance in the 65th minute through substitute Loftus-Cheek, who had replaced the injured Mateo Kovacic midway through the first half.

Kai Havertz's cross from the right was deflected out to former Palace loanee Loftus-Cheek who hammered a ferocious shot that hit opposing defender Joachim Andersen and flew into the net for the 26-year-old's first goal of the season.

Mount added a crucial second just over 10 minutes later and sealed the victory for Chelsea, playing Timo Werner's ball from the edge of the box past Andersen with his first touch and beating goalkeeper Jack Butland with his second.

Patrick Vieira's Palace had defended well to contain Chelsea until Loftus-Cheek broke the deadlock and were nearly rewarded for a gritty display, with Cheikhou Kouyate twice coming close.

Palace's talisman Wilfried Zaha was unable to shake off his marker Reece James and make an