We will play Southampton in the semi-final of the FA Cup. pic.twitter.com/2IpRNlOIdo
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) March 18, 2018
After a tight 2-1 win at Leicester City, Chelsea have now been drawn against Southampton in the semi-finals of the FA Cup (thanks, Agent Petr!), with the parallel fixture being Manchester United against Tottenham. This is most certainly an encouraging match up and Chelsea will arguably go into the tie as favourites, especially as the competition represents their last chance of silverware this season. However, the Saints are no pushovers and we shouldn't by any means take this fixture lightly.
Nevertheless, Southampton aren't having a good season, to put it mildly, and are currently sitting near the bottom of the Premier League table. This poor run of form has also lead to them recently sacking Mauricio Pellegrino and hiring former Chelsea player Mark Hughes, who was then again sacked a few weeks earlier at Stoke. It's thus safe to say that, despite kicking 'giant killers' Wigan out of the competition, Southampton has been all over the place this season and five wins from 30 games reflect this claim. One of those losses came against Chelsea back in December, the Blues taking all 3 points thanks to a lovely Marcos Alonso free-kick, and we'll be looking to reproduce that scoreline, at the very least.
Overall, it remains to be seen whether or not the change in management will have a positive effect on the Saints and Chelsea will most probably face a tough challenge to proceed to the final. The tie should go ahead on the weekend of April 21-22, though the exact date is still to be announced.
Let's go and get us that eighth FA Cup, lads!