Chelsea stumble into FA Cup semi-finals after chaotic win over Leicester

Chelsea stumbled into the FA Cup semi-finals on Sunday after a chaotic 4-2 win over second-tier Leicester City at Stamford Bridge.

The Premier League side went in at the break two goals up thanks to strikes from Marc Cucurella and the in-form Cole Palmer, while a desperately out-of-touch Raheem Sterling saw a poor penalty easily saved by goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.

But Leicester were given a lifeline six minutes into the second half when Chelsea defender Axel Disasi scored a bizarre own goal when he miss-hit a back-pass from close to 30 metres out that flew past a stranded Sanchez.

There was no luck to Leicester's leveller, though, when Stephy Mavididi cut inside on to his right foot and curled a fantastic strike into the top corner just after the hour mark. The game's turning point arrived with 17 minutes to go when Nicolas Jackson found himself through on goal but was taken down from behind by Callum Doyle to earn Chelsea a penalty while a yellow card was shown to the Foxes full-back.

But a VAR review found that the initial challenge was just outside the box and a free-kick awarded, while Doyle's card was upgraded to a red. However, Sterling then sent the resulting dead ball high and wide and the beleaguered attacker was met by a chorus of jeers by home supporters.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino then found himself the target of Chelsea fan fury when, instead of taking off Sterling, Mykhailo Mudryk was replaced by Carney Chukwuemeka, with chants of “you don't know what you're doing” reverberating around Stamford Bridge.

Cole Palmer