\n<\/p>\n
Wembley on Sunday afternoon, and the occasion couldn\u2019t be more loaded. Chelsea walk in having just sacked Liam Rosenior on Wednesday after seven defeats in eight games, three months into a six-year contract. Calum McFarlane is back for his second interim stint, and his first task is about as unforgiving as they come. Leeds United await, unbeaten in their last seven fixtures, and already with Chelsea\u2019s number this season.<\/p>\n
This is the first meeting between the two sides in the FA Cup since 1970, and that one needed a replay at Old Trafford. The history feels fitting. Chelsea are the more decorated side on paper, eight-time winners chasing their first final since 2022. But Daniel Farke\u2019s Leeds beat them 3-1 at Elland Road and drew 2-2 at Stamford Bridge in the league this season, and that form counts for something at a neutral venue.<\/p>\n
Leeds haven\u2019t been to an FA Cup semi-final since 1987, and they haven\u2019t reached a final since 1973. The Wembley record is grim too: three visits, three defeats, no goals scored since Eric Cantona in the 1992 Charity Shield. But Farke\u2019s side have beaten Derby, Birmingham, Norwich, and West Ham to get here. On current form, the tag of underdog might just be misleading.<\/p>\n
Chelsea are stretched. Estevao Willian is out for the season with a hamstring problem, while Reece James, Levi Colwill, Jamie Gittens and Filip Jorgensen are also sidelined. The better news is that both Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro trained on Friday after missing the Brighton thrashing, with McFarlane saying the pair are \u201cin a good place\u201d ahead of a final call on Saturday.<\/p>\n
For Leeds, Ilia Gruev is out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury. Anton Stach and Sebastiaan Bornauw are both doubts with ankle issues, while Farke is hopeful Jayden Bogle will shake off the knock he took against Bournemouth in midweek. Lucas Perri is expected to start in goal at Wembley over Karl Darlow, with the Brazilian Farke\u2019s preferred cup keeper.<\/p>\n
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; Gusto, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Caicedo, Santos; Palmer, Fernandez, Neto; Jo\u00e3o Pedro<\/p>\n
Leeds United (4-2-3-1):\u00a0Perri; Bogle, Struijk, Byram, Firpo; Ampadu, Tanaka; Aaronson, Okafor, Gudmundsson; Calvert-Lewin<\/p>\n
The case for Chelsea rests almost entirely on Palmer and Joao Pedro being fit and sharp. If they are, there is enough quality in that squad. But a side three games without a goal, playing under a second interim manager and against opponents who haven\u2019t lost in seven is a tough sell. The Wembley curse may haunt Leeds, but Chelsea\u2019s confidence looks closer to broken right now.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Chelsea 1-2 Leeds United Chelsea have lost all their last 5 matches in the PL without scoring. Wembley on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"