Chelsea progressed to the FA Cup final on Saturday teatime with a
1-0 win over Manchester City at Wembley thanks to Hakim Ziyech’s
fifth goal of the season.
Former Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole hailed the improvements
made by right-back Reece James ahead of the Blues’ FA Cup
semi-final victory over Manchester City at Wembley yesterday
evening.
The Blues, who have now won two of their last three meetings with
City, brought an end to Pep Guardiola’s aspirations of completing a
famous quadruple at the Etihad Stadium this season thanks to
Hakim Ziyech’s second half strike.
The former Ajax star netted his second FA Cup goal in as many
appearances just ten minutes into the second half, tapping home
Timo Werner’s square pass.
That was enough to seal a fully deserved victory for the west
London outfit, meaning they will now face either Leicester City or
Southampton at Wembley in next month’s final.
Assessing his side’s performance in his post-match press
conference, Thomas Tuchel, who has overseen victories over
Diego Simeone, Jurgen Klopp, Jose Mourinho and now Guardiola
since landing the Chelsea job towards the end of January, said:
“Our target was to close the gap for 90 minutes because it’s
possible in football if you arrive with good momentum.
“I am very, very happy and proud with the performance of our team
because we played with a lot of courage, we were very self-
confident and were brave with and against the ball.
“We had a very good start to the match, the first 35 minutes of the
first half, and the first half of the second half. We deserved the win
which was most important. We were very active and did not
passive.”
Although it will be Werner and Ziyech that lap up most of the
plaudits for combining to secure the winning goal, it was a
fabulous team performance from the Blues, who calmly dealt with
City’s attacking contingent.
From Cesar Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger
marshalling the three-man defence, to Ben Chilwell and James
keeping things tidy in the wing-back roles, it was a hugely
encouraging performance.
James was as solid as a rock defensively and most certainly was
not afraid to bomb forward from right-wing back.
And his performance matched the praise that had been sent in his
direction ahead of kick-off when former Blues ace Cole waxed
lyrical about his recent improvements to read and understand the
game.
“When he first came into the team, he burst onto the scene,” Cole
told BBC Sport. “He had a great loan experience at Wigan and was
putting in performances every week out there and everyone was
dying for him to come in and play for Chelsea.
“It was difficult; you had [Cesar] Azpilicueta, the captain, in front of
you which makes it difficult. I think he’s come on leaps and
bounds, defensively he’s got stronger, his game understanding and
reading of the game has improved as well.”
In the first few weeks of Tuchel’s tenure, James was regularly
battling it out with fellow Blues youngster Callum Hudson-Odoi for
the right wing-back berth.
More recently, however, the former Wigan Athletic loanee has been
the German’s No.1 choice when it has come to nailing down that
role. He has started four of the last five matches in all
competitions and has been key in the Blues’ excellent run of form
since the end of January.
In total, James has racked up 36 appearances for Chelsea this
season, scoring one goal and claiming five assists.
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