By Bonface Mulyungi

Chelsea bounced back from a five-game winless run in the Premier League, and Liam Rosenior’s sacking, by beating Leeds United at Wembley.

Enzo Fernandez’s first-half header propelled Chelsea to a 1-0 win over Leeds United and into an FA Cup final against Manchester City.

While Man City beat Southampton in dramatic fashion on Saturday, it was a rather more subdued encounter in the second semi-final at Wembley Stadium.

Fernandez’s 23rd-minute effort proved decisive, as the Blues – under the tutelage of interim boss Calum McFarlane following Liam Rosenior’s dismissal – booked their place in the showpiece on May 16.

The Argentine’s goal came just after Joao Pedro had struck the post, with Chelsea the better team in the first half.

Anton Stach’s introduction at half-time helped swing the momentum in Leeds’ favour, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who earlier survived a VAR check for a potential hair pull, heading straight at Robert Sanchez.

Chelsea’s goalkeeper was also in fine form to thwart both Brenden Aaronson and Stach, but Leeds’ chances were worth just 0.89 expected goals as their comeback attempts fell flat.

Data Debrief: Enzo’s lucky 13Fernandez was handed a two-match suspension by Rosenior for his comments over a potential exit from Chelsea, but he proved to be the Blues’ Wembley hero.

Chelsea’s vice-captain has now scored 13 goals in all competitions this season. The only midfielder to score more for Premier League clubs in 2025-26 is Morgan Gibbs-White (16).

In a superb first-half display, Fernandez completed the most passes in the opposition half (19), had the most shots on target (two), created the joint-most chances (two) and won the most fouls (three).

He scored from one of two shots on target, accumulating 0.15 xG himself – that was almost half of the total 0.34 xG Chelsea created.

The Blues have now progressed from their seven FA Cup ties against Leeds, and have progressed from 10 of their last 12 semi-finals in the competition.