A sublime volley from Demba Ba was enough to see Chelsea defeat Manchester United and progress the semi-finals of the FA Cup for the sixth time in eight years.
The Blues made several changes to the side which lost to Southampton 48 hours earlier, with Ashley Cole, David Luiz, Ramires, Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Demba Ba all returning to the starting line-up.
The first half passed without any real incident, as both sides arguably showed the strain of two games in such a short space of time, though Ba hit an acrobatic shot soon after the restart to give the hosts the lead.
United responded, though their best effort was denied thanks to a world class save from Petr Cech, who reacted superbly to Javier Hernandez’s far post header.
The result, which was slightly marred when Ashley Cole was replaced after just 21 minutes after appearing to pull a hamstring, means Chelsea are now unbeaten in a record 29 games, excluding penalty shoots.
The club will now face Manchester City at Wembley on April 14th, meaning that Rafa Benitez’s side have seven more games to play in April; a number that will increase should they make it past Rubin Kazan in the Europa League.