Chelsea ended another tough week in their rough season on a high note by beating Port Vale 7-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday to reach the FA Cup semi-finals. Tosin Adarabioyo, a centre-back who scored one of the seven goals, talked to BBC Sport after the game and made it very clear what the Blues’ goals were for the rest of the competition.
Before this game, the Blues had lost four in a row in the Premier League and Champions League. This made it even more important for Liam Rosenior’s team to respond strongly at home. Jorrel Hato and Joao Pedro scored in the first half, and Cole Palmer made it three by forcing an own goal from Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel. After the break, Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Estevao, and Alejandro Garnacho scored four more.
After the game, the 28-year-old defender told BBC Sport that he was happy with how the team played and talked about their plans for the rest of the tournament:
“Very good, great to play some nice football and to get another win and clean sheet at Stamford Bridge. It’s been a two-week break now since our last games which didn’t go so well and we wanted to come back home and put a good result in…”
“That’s the aim, we want to end the season with a trophy. Our aim is to get to the final and win the trophy.”
Adarabioyo also said that the Blues had taken their League One opponents seriously, despite a significant skill-level gap between the two teams. Port Vale had already beaten Sunderland 1-0 in the last round to get to the quarter-finals, and the former Fulham player knew this:
“It’s the FA Cup and anything can happen. We knew it was going to be difficult today if we didn’t do our best. They beat a Premier League team in the last round so we knew we had to put in a performance.”
Chelsea’s FA Cup Semi-Final Opponent to Be Decided on Sunday
The quarter-finals are over, and now everyone is looking forward to the semi-final draw on Sunday, April 5. Becky Ives will present the draw, and Ally McCoist will run it. The four teams that are still in the running will find out what happens to them. Manchester City also moved on after beating Liverpool 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium with a hat-trick from Erling Haaland.
The FA Cup semi-finals will be held at Wembley Stadium on the weekend of April 25 and 26, 2026. Before that, Chelsea will play Manchester City in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge on April 12. This game could be a warm-up for an FA Cup match between the two teams later in the month.