Chelsea v Leicester LIVE: FA Cup result and final score after Chukwuemeka and Madueke save Blue blushes

The FA Cup represents Chelsea’s last chance at silverware this season, with a narrow loss to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup in February marking another difficult point in what has been a hard first season for Mauricio Pochettino.

Winning the cup would certainly make the season a lot more successful, but it is unknown whether Pochettino would be sacked if his team were to finish around 10th, where they currently lie in the league.

Conversely, Leicester City have had an exceptional season so far in the league, sitting first in the Championship on 82 points (and with a game in hand on second-placed Ipswich, who are a point below them). Fonseca’s men could still break the league’s points record, which was set in 2005-06 when Reading accumulated 106 points.

A quick reminder of the betting odds and tips before kick-off.

Chelsea are heavy favourites this afternoon, priced at 40/85 for the win. A draw is offered at 4/1, while a Leicester win is given at odds of 6/1.

Chelseaare third favourites to win the tournament, and are priced at 6/1 behind Manchester City (10/11) and Liverpool (10/3).

With Manchester City and Coventry City already in the hat, the winner of today’s early kick-off will be excited to see who they draw in the semi-finals at Wembley.

The draw will take place today, shortly after the conclusion of Manchester United vs Liverpool. Ties will take place on the weekend of 20 April.

You can follow all the relevant updates for the draw here.

Leicester and Chelsea last played each other just over a year ago, when Chelsea came out 3-1 winners in a season that saw Leicester relegated to the Championship.

The most famous recent meeting between these two sides came in the FA Cup in 2021, when Leicester won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Youri Tielemans. Chelsea haven’t lost to Leicester in any of the five games since then. 

The home side come into this match in mixed form, having beaten Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Leeds in recent weeks. They drew to Manchester City at the Etihad and Brentford at the Gtech, and agonisingly lost the Carabao Cup final 1-0 on 26 February. 

Leicester’s form is similarly mixed despite an amazing start to their Championship season. The Foxes sit first and have already accumulated 82 points, but they have lost three of their last five league games, to Leeds, Middlesbrough and QPR. They drew 2-2 away at Hull in their last game. 

So Chelsea make two changes to the side that beat Newcastle on Monday. Sanchez comes in for Petrovic in goal, while Mudryk starts as Fernandez is suspended.

Leicester make four changes from the draw at Hull. Stolarczyk comes in for Hermansen in goal, while Doyle replaces Justin at left-back. Daka replaces Vardy upfront, while Ndidi comes in for Yunus Akgun in midfield.

And here are the respective XIs.

CHELSEA XI: Sanchez; Gusto, Disasi, Chalobah, Cucurella; Caicedo, Gallagher; Palmer, Mudryk, Sterling; Jackson.

LEICESTER CITY XI: Stolarczyk; Choudhury, Faes, Vestergaard, Doyle; Ndidi, Dewsbury-Hall, Winks; Fatawu, Mavididi, Daka.

A reminder of the relevant team news just before the line-ups are due to be announced.

Ben Chilwell (knee), called up by England, and Benoit Badiashile (groin) could be available for the Blues. But Wesley Fofana (knee), Reece James (thigh), Lesley Ugochukwu (hamstring), Levi Colwill (toe), Romeo Lavia (thigh) and Christopher Nkunku (thigh) are out.

Enzo Fernandez is suspended, while Cesare Casadei is unavailable after featuring for Leicester earlier in the tournament.

For Leicester, Ricardo Pereira and Dennis Praet are out with hamstring injuries, while winger Kasey McAteer is also out.

A reminder of how you can watch today’s earlier kick-off.

The Blues reached this stage with an entertaining 3-2 win over Leeds United in the fifth round, while the Foxes beat Bournemouth 1-0 after extra time. This is a repeat of the 2021 final, which Leicester won 1-0 thanks to a Youri Tielemans strike and an inspired Kasper Schmeichel display between the sticks.

You can watch the game on free-to-air television in the UK with BBC One. Coverage starts at 12.20pm GMT.

The BBC Sport website and BBC iPlayer (both free with a subscription) will offer fans the option of a live stream on laptops and mobile devices.

If you’re travelling abroad and want to watch major sporting events, you might need a VPN to unblock your streaming app. Our VPN round-up is here to help and includes deals on VPNs in the market. Viewers using a VPN need to make sure that they comply with any local regulations where they are, and also with the terms of their service provider.

If this year’s January’s market seemed quiet, it was in part because there were very active discussions behind the scenes at the biggest spenders of the last three windows.

Chelsea are trying to figure out how they can still meet the Premier League’s profit and sustainability (P&S) requirements and bolster the squad.

They want a major striker, above all Napoli’s Victor Osimhen. The club owners’ recent purchase of 1,000 shares for £140m isn’t viewed as an indication of budget, though.

Mauricio Pochettino has publicly said he has been told they don’t need to sell to buy. This Chelsea hierarchy has generally attempted different methods, constantly looking at angles others haven’t thought of yet.

Some in football would go further, though. One description is that Chelsea are undertaking a huge experiment never before seen in football.