The FA Cup final of 2021 belongs to another world. There was a bumper crowd of 20,000 at Wembley to watch the fourth and fifth best teams in England battle it out. Youri Tielemans’ terrific goal gave Leicester a 1-0 win over Chelsea, who had to settle for the consolation of winning the Champions League a fortnight later.
Both clubs have fallen a fair way since then, and they start this FA Cup quarter-final as the 11th and 21st best sides in the country. While Leicester’s priority is promotion, this is Chelsea’s season entire. Sure they might sneak into Europe, but what they really, really, really want is their first trophy under Mauricio Pochettino. If nothing else, it would give them an opportunity to collect the trophy while wearing T-shirts with the slogan BILLION POUND BOTTLE JOBS.
That Carabao Cup final is Chelsea’s only defeat in the last seven games. Baby steps, for sure, but they’ve played some good stuff of late and Cole Palmer continues to look like one of the bargains of the season.
Leicester have lost three of the last six, an unthinkable run of form given how dominant they’ve been this season. But they won well at Bournemouth in the last round and should enjoy a weekend off from the stress of being hunted down in the Championship. Unlike the 2021 final, this is a bit of a free hit.
Kick off 12.45pm.