Chelsea booked their place in the next round of the FA Cup after securing a 1-0 victory over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Monday evening.
The match got off to a lively start with the Red Devils claiming the first chance of the match from the corner when Ander Herrera sent a ball into the box from a corner, which Marcos Rojo meets but the defender put his effort over the crossbar.
United nearly took the lead in the 12th minute when Marcus Rashford played Mkhitaryan through on goal before he unleashed a shot at goal but saw his strike guided just wide of the target.
Four minutes later and the Blues had a chance to take the lead when Eden Hazard did well, with his first touch leaving Smalling in the lurk before making his way into the box and produced a strike at goal forcing David De Gea into a marvellous save.
A minute later, the United shot-stopper came to his side’s rescue when he produced another excellent save to keep out Gary Cahil’s effort from close-range.
Hazard proved to be causing United all sorts of trouble in the final third when he latched on to the ball from Marcos Alonso, making his way down the left side of the box before lashing his effort high and wide of the goal.
However, Jose Mourinho’s side were then reduced to 10-men when Herrera fouled Hazard in the middle of the park, resulting in the Spanish midfielder getting his second bookable offence.
In the opening 45 minutes, neither side could find the opening goal as the match went into the half time interval locked at 0-0.
The Blues picked up where they left off in the first half and took the lead in the 51st minute when N’Golo Kante found the bottom-left corner after his strike from 25 yards out to make it 1-0.
United responded well and nearly found an equalising goal in the 59th minute when Rashford was played through on goal, he then runs at the Blues defender and turned him inside-out before seeing his left-footed effort saved by Courtois.
Chelsea were given a golden opportunity to double their lead when Diego Costa put his free header wide of the target from a resulting corner.
In the 63rd minute, Chelsea worked the ball well across the edge of the box before Kante shapes to shoot and passes to Willian, whose first-time curling effort goes agonisingly wide of the top-right corner.
The Blues pressed for in search of a second goal when Kante skipped beyond Fellaini on the right before sending a cross into the box, with Costa lurking but Phil Jones does well to gets there to head the ball behind for a corner.
In the 76th minute, Willian did well to beat Rojo to the ball before skipping past him with a fine first touch. The Brazilian then fired a teasing ball into the danger zone but Costa could not get enough on it.
The Red Devils had a chance to level matters in the 83rd minute when Jesse Lingard did well to play the ball towards Paul Pogba at the edge of the area before the French midfielder tried his luck from 20-yards out but guided his effort wide of the target.
With five minutes to play, Chelsea caught United out on the counter-attack before getting the ball into the box with Hazard sliding in to get on the end of the ball but Valencia did well to get the ball away for a corner.
However, Chelsea managed to hold onto their 1-0 lead until the final whistle to book their place in the FA Cup semi-finals.
