Chelsea see off Spurs in FA Cup thriller

Chelsea are through to the FA Cup final after they dug deep to get the better of Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 at Wembley.

Blues boss Antonio Conte sprang a couple of major surprises in his starting line-up as he opted to leave Eden Hazard and Diego Costa on the bench; Thibaut Courtois meanwhile returned to the team after missing last weekend's loss at Manchester United.

But the move by the Italian paid dividends almost immediately as Willian, in for Hazard, opened the scoring in the fifth minute, outfoxing Hugo Lloris with a neat free-kick from the edge of the penalty area.

The Premier League leaders were the better side in the early exchanges but Spurs gradually worked their way into the game and they were level on 18 minutes when Harry Kane guided the cutest of glancing headers from Christian Eriksen's inswinging cross into the far bottom corner past Courtois.

Mauricio Pochettino's side were in the ascendancy but against the run of play Chelsea re-took the lead just before the break, Willian again the goalscorer, this time the Brazilian made no mistake from the penalty spot after Son Hyeung-min was correctly penalised for a silly trip on Victor Moses.

Spurs again began to take a grip on the absorbing contest after the restart and they drew level for a second time on 52 minutes when Eriksen again played provider, whipping in a delightful ball which Dele Alli guided home first time on the stretch.

The north London side pushed hard for a third goal but they fell behind again with 15 minutes left on the clock, from a rare attack substitute Hazard found himself in plenty of space on the edge of the area and he drove the ball past Lloris.

The victory was sealed five minutes later when Nemanja Matic, second best in the midfield battle most of the day alongside N'Golo Kante, registered his first goal of the current campaign with an unstoppable piledriver which flew into the top corner from 25 yards.

Despite being the better side for much of the game, Spurs were unable to come back for a third time and it is Chelsea who can still dream of winning the double this season.

Image: Getty/Ian Kington