Long laborious offensively, Thomas Tuchel's men were able to be patient and realistic by scoring on their first two real chances.

On May 14, they will face Liverpool, winner of the other, much more exciting semi-final on Saturday against Manchester City (3-2).

After coming so close to the feat at the Santiago Bernabeu, having led 3-0, to finally be eliminated (1-3, 3-2), the reaction of Chelsea was expected in this London derby.

Despite 120 minutes of play in Spain, Thomas Tuchel had only made three changes to his starting lineup compared to the one that started against Real, notably leaving Thiago Silva and N'Golo Kanté on the bench.

Wary of the speed of the Eagles attackers, despite their only 13th place in the league, Tuchel had placed Reece James in a right stopper position, shifting Cesar Azpilicueta in his place, as a piston.

Deprived of their great midfielder, Conor Gallagher, under contract with Chelsea and unable to play against them due to a clause in the loan agreement, Palace had clearly not come to make the game, betting on the cons.

Chelsea eventually find the opening

The Blues, who played in yellow, had heavy legs in the first period and the match remained very far from the peaks reached the day before by Liverpool-Manchester City (3-2).

The few chills during the first hour mostly came from set pieces.

Defender Cheikhou Kouyaté thus saw his recovery be nicely repelled by Edouard Mendy on his right (36th) and a header from a corner pass just wide (60th).

Mason Mount scores a goal for Chelsea against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup semi-final on April 17, 2022 at Wembley Ben STANSALL AFP

Better preparing their offensives by spinning the ball in the second half, Chelsea ended up finding the opening on a cross from Kai Havertz badly repelled by the defense and taken over victoriously by Loftus-Cheek (1-0, 65th).

Ten minutes later, served with a line by Timo Werner at the entrance to the surface, Mason Mount infiltrated and closely deceived Jack Butland (2-0, 76th).

At the very end of the match, Romelu Lukaku, who entered the game and decidedly unlucky, hit the post (90th), but Chelsea offered themselves a chance to win a second trophy this season after the FIFA Club World Cup this winter.

Against the Reds, however, it will be necessary to raise the level of play by one or two notches to have a real chance.

© 2022 AFP