Man City beats Chelsea with late Silva goal to make FA Cup final while Arsenal tops EPL

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Manchester City’s head coach Pep Guardiola celebrates on full time of the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Manchester City and Chelsea at Wembley stadium in London, Saturday, April 20, 2024. Manchester City won 1-0. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

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Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva, left, celebrates with teammates after scoring the opening goal during the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Manchester City and Chelsea at Wembley stadium in London, Saturday, April 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

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Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne celebrates following the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Manchester City and Chelsea at Wembley stadium in London, Saturday, April 20, 2024. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

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Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva, center left, celebrates after scoring his side’s opening goal during the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Manchester City and Chelsea at Wembley stadium in London, Saturday, April 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

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Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne is challenged by Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah, left, during the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Manchester City and Chelsea at Wembley stadium in London, Saturday, April 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

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Manchester City’s head coach Pep Guardiola yells during the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Manchester City and Chelsea at Wembley stadium in London, Saturday, April 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

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Manchester City’s head coach Pep Guardiola, right, hugs Chelsea’s head coach Mauricio Pochettino at full time of the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Manchester City and Chelsea at Wembley stadium in London, Saturday, April 20, 2024. Manchester City won 1-0. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

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Chelsea’s head coach Mauricio Pochettino reacts after the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Manchester City and Chelsea at Wembley stadium in London, Saturday, April 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

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Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard, right, celebrates scoring their side’s second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal at the Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England, Saturday, April 20, 2024. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

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Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard scores his side’s second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal at the Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England, Saturday, April 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira)

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Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard scores their side’s second during the English Premier League soccer match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal at the Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England, Saturday, April 20, 2024. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

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Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard, left, celebrates scoring their side’s first goal of the game during the English Premier League soccer match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal at the Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England, Saturday, April 20, 2024. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

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Burnley’s Lorenz Assignon celebrates scoring their side’s second goal of the game during the English Premier League soccer match between Burnley FC and Sheffield United at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, England, Saturday April 20, 2024. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP)

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Burnley’s Lorenz Assignon, left, celebrates scoring their side’s second goal of the game during the English Premier League soccer match between Burnley FC and Sheffield United at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, England, Saturday April 20, 2024. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP)

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Luton Town’s Luke Berry and Brentford’s Ethan Pinnock, right, battle for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Brentford FC and Luton Town at Kenilworth Road stadium, in Luton, England, Saturday April 20, 2024. (John Walton/PA via AP)

By JAMES ROBSON

Manchester City’s European rule is over — its domestic dominance is not.

Even on a day when Arsenal rose to the summit of the English Premier League with a 2-0 win against Wolves, City kept its pursuit of back-to-back domestic doubles alive by booking its place in the FA Cup final.

Bernardo Silva’s late goal secured a 1-0 win against Chelsea in their semifinal on Saturday, just days after City’s Champions League defense was ended by Real Madrid.

Pep Guardiola’s team had to dig deep at Wembley, with Chelsea creating the best of the chances before Bernardo struck an 84th-minute winner.

A sweet moment for the Portuguese playmaker was even more special given he missed a penalty in the shootout loss to Madrid on Wednesday.

“(I’m) very happy after a very frustrating week for all of us, for me personally,” Bernardo said. “The good thing is in football at Man City, you play every three days. Every three days you have the chance to put things right and now we have a chance to win another trophy.”

City hoped to become the first team to win back-to-back trebles after winning the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup last season. Without the injured Erling Haaland, it had to show character to bounce back after the disappointment of defeat to Madrid.

UAE's Al Ain' players celebrate after the second leg of their AFC Champions League 2023/24 semi-final match against Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal at Kingdom Arena Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo)

Al-Ain reaches Asian Champions League final by beating Al-Hilal 5-4 on aggregate

Juventus' Arkadiusz Milik celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the Italian Cup semi-final soccer match between Lazio and Juventus at Rome's Olympic Stadium, Italy, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

Juventus requires a late goal to beat Lazio 3-2 on aggregate and reach the Italian Cup final

Arsenal's Kai Havertz, left, scores his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Emirates Stadium in London, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Havertz scores 2 as Arsenal routs Chelsea 5-0 to cement Premier League lead

Chelsea had chances to take the lead, but Nicolas Jackson wasted three golden opportunities before Bernardo’s decisive moment — converting Kevin De Bruyne’s cross from the left via a deflection from Marc Cucurella.

“We conceded in a moment you should not concede,” Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino said.

“We were not capable of being clinical in front of goal, we had many chances but we did not score. In the game we were a little bit better and deserved more, but it is not about deserving it, it is about being clinical and we were not.”

City is aiming to win the Cup for an eighth time, while Guardiola can extend his trophy haul to 16 since joining the club if his team completes the double.

He may look back on this game as being pivotal if City goes on to win the league and Cup, given the physical and mental strain the week has had on his players after being taken to extra time and penalties by Madrid.

Defeat to Chelsea would have raised questions over City’s resolve in the final weeks of a campaign when Arsenal and Liverpool are threatening to take the title race all the way.

While he celebrated joyously, fist pumping to the crowd and embracing each of his players, he voiced his anger over the decision to make his team play on Saturday. He said the semifinal should have been moved back 24 hours due to City’s Champions League commitments.

“I don’t understand how we survived today. It’s unacceptable to play today. Today is one of the greatest things I have seen from my players,” Guardiola said. “I just want to protect my players. It’s unacceptable, it’s common sense. I’m not asking for something special or privilege.”

Manchester United meets Coventry in the other semifinal on Sunday. The final is on May 25.

ARSENAL LEADS

Arsenal also had to show its resolve after a punishing week of its own.

Defeat to Aston Villa last weekend left Mikel Arteta’s team trailing City by two points at the top of the standings and that was followed by Champions League elimination at the hands of Bayern Munich.

After last season’s late title collapse, it looked like history was repeating itself.

But a 2-0 win at Wolves has gone some way to answering doubts about Arsenal’s credentials. Leandro Trossard and Martin Odegaard scored late in each half.

“It was a tough week for us. A few tough results and (it was) hard emotionally but we had to keep going,” Odegaard said.

Arsenal took over first place, a point clear of City, which has a game in hand.

Third-placed Liverpool can go level on points with Arsenal if it beats Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday.

RELEGATION BATTLE

Burnley’s hopes of survival were boosted by routing last-placed Sheffield United 4-1.

Vincent Kompany’s team is putting together a late-season bid to avoid the drop with only one loss in seven in the league. Burnley is within three points of safety.

The win at Bramall Lane pushed Sheffield United closer to relegation, 10 points from safety with five games to go.

A good day for Burnley was made even better as relegation rival Luton was hammered at home by Brentford 5-1.

Luton, in 18th, had the chance to move out of the bottom three with a win, but is just two points ahead of Burnley in 19th.

Yoane Wissa struck twice for Brentford, which moved 10 points clear of the drop zone.

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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer