Chelsea outfoxes Leicester in race for top four
Chelsea boosted its hopes of Champions League qualification with a vital 2-1 victory over Leicester City in the penultimate game of both sides' Premier League seasons.
Thomas Tuchel's men avenged their defeat in Sunday's FA Cup final with a win secured by Antonio Rudiger and Jorginho goals in front of 10,000 fans at Stamford Bridge.
Three points saw the Blues leapfrog their opponents, who netted late on through Kelechi Iheanacho, into third place in the Premier League to keep a top-four finish firmly in their hands going into the last day.
Leicester, meanwhile, now needs a Liverpool slip-up if they are to return to the Champions League after a four-year absence.
Clearly desperate to make amends for its Wembley defeat, Chelsea made a strong start to proceedings.
Timo Werner was at the heart of it, the German denied what looked a certain penalty when he was kicked by Youri Tielemans before seeing a cool finish rightly chalked off for offside.
And luck continued to evade the striker, who saw another goal ruled out just past the half-hour mark after the VAR spotted he had handled the ball into the net instead of completing a simple header.
For that reason, Chelsea would have felt aggrieved to go in level after dominating a first half that also saw them lose N'Golo Kante to injury.
But they put things right just 94 seconds into the second period when Rudiger bundled home from a flicked-on corner to the delight of a partisan crowd.
Werner's fortune turned shortly after, too, the Blues forward tempting Wesley Fofana into a trip that was upgraded from a free-kick to a penalty on inspection from the VAR.
Jorginho did the job from the spot to seemingly exorcise the ghosts of that FA Cup clash, but there was still time for Iheanacho to set up a nervy finale with a left-footed finish from inside the box.
After Ayoze Perez then passed up a big chance to equalise, Chelsea held out through a feisty finish to stay in charge of the top-four race.
