Chelsea into FA Cup semis as late double sinks 10-man Leicester in chaotic battle

FA Cup quarter-final

Chelsea 4 Leicester City 2

Never underestimate Chelsea’s capacity for chaos.

Only they could go 2-0 up against Championship opposition in an FA Cup quarter-final and end up needing stoppage-time goals to go through after a second half that will be remembered for Axel Disasi’s preposterous own-goal, more dissent from the crowd and Cole Palmer expunging the toxic atmosphere with a superb assist for Carney Chukwuemeka.

This was Chelsea at their most mystifying. The celebrations at the end were relieved. There had been boos for Mauricio Pochettino and Raheem Sterling when Leicester City fought back to level the tie just after the hour.

Chelsea, two wins from collecting their first trophy under Pochettino, were sweating before the substitute Chukwuemeka combined with Palmer and broke Enzo Maresca’s side in the second of two added minutes.

Leicester, who had Callum Doyle sent off at 2-2, had to take heart from one of their closest rivals for promotion, Leeds United, coming close to causing an upset against Chelsea in the fifth round. They have wobbled of late, their lead at the top of the Championship whittled down to one point after a run of one win in five games, but they refused to be overawed.

It meant that Chelsea would have to be on their game if they were to make the most of hosting second-tier opposition for the third time in this year’s competition. Leicester were committed to their style, Harry Winks often dropping back to start moves from deep, and they caused problems during the first half. Patson Daka and Wout Faes both headed wide from inviting positions, the latter after the suspect Robert Sánchez flew off his line to claim a corner and got nowhere the ball.

Leicester needed more