Before the match, the big screens at Stamford Bridge showed footage of the 1970 FA Cup final replay at Old Trafford. It was the last time Chelsea and Leeds United had met in the competition and it is notorious for being one of the most brutal matches in the history of the English game.
Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris was interviewed on the touchline on Wednesday night with one of his opponents that day, Eddie Gray, whose great nephew, Archie, was in the Leeds starting line-up. Norman ‘Bites Yer Legs’ Hunter got a mention, of course.
Generally, everyone marvelled at how much punishment players had to take. It was tempting to envisage Bruno Fernandes transplanted into a game like that just to see the expression on his face.
Chelsea won the game 2-1 but some of the tackles have lived longest in the memory. When the BBC presented a package of the highlights, it prefaced the footage with a tongue-in-cheek warning. ‘Some viewers may find the following video disturbing,’ it said.
There were periods in this FA Cup fifth round tie when, for entirely different reasons, some Chelsea fans may have found what they were witnessing distinctly unsettling, too. There were long periods of this game when they were staring at an exit from the FA Cup and the premature end of their season.
Pochettino made five changes from side that began the defeat by Liverpool, with Cole Palmer and Conor Gallagher, two of their best players at Wembley, dropping to the bench. Some might argue he needs to keep them fresh for the league to make sure Chelsea don\’t get sucked into a relegation scrap.
Chelsea were increasingly sloppy in possession and 20 minutes from time, they had a lucky escape. Chelsea\’s defence allowed a cross to find Joseph ten yards out and although Joseph mistimed his header, it looked for a moment as if the ball had fallen at his feet. He prepared to sweep it home for his hat-trick before it was hacked away by Trevoh Chalobah.
As the match headed for extra-time, Leeds looked the more likely winners but with a minute to go, Enzo Fernandez, who looked so distraught at the end of the Carabao Cup final that he thought about confronting a fan who taunted him, took control and drove Chelsea forward.
Fernandez pressed on towards the edge of the box and slid a precise pass in to the feet of substitute Conor Gallagher, who turned his man beautifully and, in one movement, lifted the ball past Meslier and into the net for the winner.