Chelsea have sealed their place in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, courtesy of a 1-0 victory over 10-man Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Monday.

The visitors were forced to play the majority of the game with a numerical disadvantage after Ander Herrera was sent off with 10 minutes remaining in the first half, and N’Golo Kante’s second-half strike proved to be enough for the Blues to reach Wembley.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan dragged a low shot wide of the target as United continued to probe for an early breakthrough, but the visitors needed David de Gea in top form to keep the scores level moments later as Chelsea suddenly exploded into life.

Eden Hazard was the catalyst for the hosts with a brilliant turn past Chris Smalling before darting past another defender on his way into the box, but his deflected strike across goal was turned wide by the fingertips of De Gea.

United’s attempts to stop Hazard by whatever means necessary saw the Belgian win a growing number of free kicks, and Ander Herrera picked up his first yellow card for a block on the winger after 20 minutes.

While Mourinho and Conte were going toe to toe on the sidelines, Chelsea forged another shooting opportunity through Victor Moses, but the wing-back could not find the target with his powerful strike.

United was able to see out an increasingly lively first half without conceding, but it took just six minutes of the second half for Chelsea to find the breakthrough through an unlikely source as N’Golo Kante picked out the bottom corner from just outside the penalty area.

It was Kante’s second goal for the club, both of which have come against United, but the visitors should have levelled things up just before the hour mark when Marcus Rashford – something of a surprise starter having suffered with illness in the build-up to the match – capitalised on a David Luiz error before getting the better of Cahill and firing his finish straight at Thibaut Courtois.

Chelsea were soon back on the front foot, though, and they hit the visitors on the break from the resulting corner to win one of their own, from which Diego Costa escaped his marker only to nod a clear chance off target.