{"id":921022,"date":"2026-04-27T03:33:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T03:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/921022\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T03:33:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T03:33:25","slug":"chelsea-beat-leeds-in-fa-cup-semi-final-4-things-we-learnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/921022\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea beat Leeds in FA Cup Semi Final: 4 things we learnt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chelsea’s crucial FA Cup Semi Final<\/strong> victory over historic rivals Leeds United<\/a><\/b> marked a first FA Cup Semi Final win of the Blueco era to progress to an FA Cup Final.<\/p>\n

With a recent dip in League form for the Blues as they fell from a European position, a timely FA Cup victory could be exactly what they need to secure European football for the coming season!<\/p>\n

A powerful first half Enzo Fernandez<\/a><\/strong> header sealed the deal for Callum McFarlane’s Chelsea side as the Blues defence held their ground for the remainder of the cup clash.<\/p>\n

\"EnzoEnzo Fernandez celebrates after scoring the winner at Wembley. Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Goal Drought conclusion<\/p>\n

Chelsea have failed to net beyond a Premier League<\/a><\/b> defence since the 4th of March, a whopping ten games ago! Fernandez’s crucial matchwinner on Sunday afternoon broke this unwanted trend to the Chelsea Fans’ delight.<\/p>\n

The header marked Enzo’s twelfth goal of the season and his second in three games under boss, Callum McFarlane as the Blues number 8 has begun to find some lethal form at the face of goal.<\/p>\n

\"EnzoFernandez powers home the decisive header at Wembley. Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Jo\u00e3o Pedro shines<\/p>\n

Despite not joining Fernandez on the scoresheet for the Blues, Joao Pedro<\/a><\/strong> was certainly a spark throughout the fixture. <\/p>\n

His skilful footwork and build-up play drove almost all of Chelsea’s attacking potential and looks like a fine example of a player free from Rosenior’s restrictions.<\/p>\n

\"Jo\u00e3oJo\u00e3o Pedro drives forward during Chelsea’s FA Cup Semi Final win. Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Clean sheet against a strong attack<\/p>\n

Failure to keep a clean sheet against Premier League<\/a><\/b> opposition since the 17th of January ended against Leeds on Sunday as a back line that was missing influential figures such as Reece James,<\/a><\/strong> Levi Colwill<\/a><\/strong> and Wesley Fofana,<\/a><\/strong> warded off a powerful Leeds front line.<\/p>\n

A certainly winnable league clash against relegation battlers, Nottingham Forest<\/a><\/b> next Monday could mean back-to-back clean sheets for Robert Sanchez’s back line!<\/p>\n

\"ChelseaChelsea’s defence held firm to keep a vital clean sheet at Wembley. Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Poor second half performance<\/p>\n

A recurring theme of late has been the Blues’ inability to maintain a strong performance in the second half of recent games.<\/p>\n

Seven of the last ten goals conceded by the Chels have occurred in the second half of games and despite holding on in the Semi Final,<\/a><\/strong> Leeds certainly looked the better side in the second half in contrast to a dominant Chelsea opening.<\/p>\n

\"ChelseaChelsea players at the final whistle after securing their place in the FA Cup Final. Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chelsea’s crucial FA Cup Semi Final victory over historic rivals Leeds United marked a first FA Cup Semi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":921023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,258283,885,393,1627,97,4884,11450,1860,2922,49257,101,49256,16,15,12904],"class_list":["post-921022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-leeds","tag-britain","tag-callum-mcfarlane","tag-chelsea","tag-england","tag-enzo-fernandez","tag-fa-cup","tag-great-britain","tag-joao-pedro","tag-leeds","tag-leeds-united","tag-marc-cucurella","tag-premier-league","tag-reece-james","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wembley"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116474571255603620","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/921023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}