FAC: Chelsea 2-0 Southampton

Alvaro Morata and Cesar Azpilicueta celebrate Chelsea's second goal against Southampton

Chelsea reached the FA Cup final for the second year in a row after goals from Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata secured a 2-0 win over Southampton at Wembley on Sunday.

Giroud showed fantastic composure and footwork to break Southampton's resistance less than a minute into the second half.

Morata then came off the bench and headed home in the 82nd minute to make sure of victory for Chelsea, who largely dominated as they set up a meeting with Manchester United in the same stadium on May 19.

 

Saints had their moments in the second half, but at 1-0 they had a goal disallowed for a foul on Willy Caballero and saw Shane Long miss a glorious one-on-one chance, before Charlie Austin hit the post late on.

Saints now turn their attentions to trying to avoid relegation from the Premier League, while Chelsea will be aiming to end the season with silverware, having been beaten in last year's final by Arsenal.

 

Antonio Conte's side dominated the first half against a cagey Southampton as the lively Eden Hazard fired narrowly wide in the fifth minute before Willian cut inside in the box and hit a shot against the top of the bar.

Long and Austin looked isolated at the other end but Saints made it to half-time at 0-0 as Maya Yoshida denied Hazard with an excellent close-range block and Giroud was unable to hit the target with a couple of volleys.

However, the deadlock was broken less than a minute after the restart as Giroud showed fantastic control to evade several tackles and then poke home.

 

Hazard curled narrowly wide moments later, before Long wasted a superb chance for Southampton when a heavy touch took him around Willy Caballero and knocked the ball out of play.

Saints threatened to get back into the game as Nathan Redmond was denied by a sharp stop from Caballero in the 70th minute

The Chelsea goalkeeper then dropped the ball over his line from a corner, only to be saved by the whistle for a free-kick against Austin.

 

Morata headed home in the 82nd minute to make it 2-0 and then spurned two more good openings after Austin had hit the post to cap off a frustrating day in front of goal for Saints.