Chelsea ends Man City's quadruple bid, reaches FA Cup final

Manchester City's quadruple dream has been extinguished by Chelsea. Even more concerning could be the injury to Kevin De Bruyne.

Chelsea will be back at Wembley Stadium next month for the FA Cup final after a 1-0 victory over City was clinched by Hakim Ziyech on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola will return even sooner next Sunday with City for the League Cup final but with doubts over whether De Bruyne will be fit to face Tottenham.

Chelsea's Hakim Ziyech, bottom, scores his side's opening goal during the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City at Wembley Stadium in London, England, Saturday, April 17, 2021. (Ben Stansall, Pool via AP)

The influential Belgian playmaker hobbled off with an apparent ankle injury just as City is entering a crunch period of the season.

A 11-point Premier League lead makes collecting that trophy a near-certainty but there is also a first Champions League semifinal with City for Guardiola against Paris Saint-Germain in what remains the priority title for the club.

While Guardiola has been in charge almost five years at City, Thomas Tuchel has only been at Chelsea three months.

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne sits on the field after injuring during the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City at Wembley Stadium in London, England, Saturday, April 17, 2021. (AP PhotoIan Walton, Pool)

After picking up the pieces following the firing of Frank Lampard, the German now has a shot at a trophy in the FA Cup final against Leicester or Southampton next month. And like City, Chelsea remains in Champions League contention with Real Madrid awaiting in the last four.

The performance against City will offer Tuchel encouragement of silverware. While Timo Werner struggles for goals, assists are less of a problem — with his 12th of his first season at Chelsea setting up Ziyech for the close-range finish in the 55th minute.

There were no Chelsea fans to witness the goal in person. But they should be allowed back into Wembley for the May 15 final as coronavirus restrictions are eased.

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne stands up helped by medical staff after injuring during the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City at Wembley Stadium in London, England, Saturday, April 17, 2021. (AP PhotoIan Walton, Pool)

How to get safely back into venues will be assessed at Wembley on Sunday when up to 4,000 locals from the north London district are allowed in to see Leicester take on Southampton if they can produce a negative coronavirus test result.

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Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola stands during the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City at Wembley Stadium in London, England, Saturday, April 17, 2021. (AP PhotoIan Walton, Pool)

Manchester City's Phil Foden, left, challenges for the ball with Chelsea's Thiago Silva during the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City at Wembley Stadium in London, England, Saturday, April 17, 2021. (AP PhotoIan Walton, Pool)

Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus scored more goals in 53 minutes on Saturday than he had in the previous eight months in the English Premier League.

Becoming the first player in the league to score four goals in one game this season, Jesus led City to a 5-1 thrashing of Watford to open a four-point lead over second-placed Liverpool in the title race.

Liverpool can trim that back to one point with five matches left by beating Everton in the Merseyside derby on Sunday.

Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus celebrates after scoring his fourth goal, his side's fifth, during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Watford at Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Saturday, April 23, 2022. (AP PhotoJon Super)

Jesus scored three goals in the league before the arrival of next-to-last Watford for a match that ended up resembling a training exercise.

The Brazil international netted twice in the first half and twice more in the opening eight minutes of the second half — one of which was a penalty to complete his hat trick.

Rodri scored the other goal for City, which used the match to give key players a rest ahead of Real Madrid's visit in the Champions League semifinals on Tuesday.

Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes reacts after failing to score from a penalty kick during an English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates stadium in London, Saturday April 23, 2022. (AP PhotoAlastair J. Grant)

While City stayed on course for the title, fierce rival Manchester United likely dropped out of the race for Champions League qualification.

By losing at Arsenal 3-1, United fell six points behind its top-four rival and manager Ralf Rangnick all but called time on his team's season.

“I don’t think it’s very realistic to dream and think of the top four," Rangnick said at the end of a week when United also lost at Liverpool 4-0 and hired a new manager, Ajax's Erik ten Hag, for the start of next season.

Arsenal moved into fourth, three points above north London rival Tottenham, which visited Brentford late.

In other games, last-placed Norwich plunged closer to relegation with a 3-0 loss at home to Newcastle, while mid-table teams Leicester and Aston Villa drew 0-0.

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