FA Cup: Chelsea edge Leeds to enter quarters; Man Utd, Liverpool also through

London, Feb 29 (IANS) Conor Gallagher came off the bench to score the winner as Chelsea beat Leeds United 3-2 in the fifth round of the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea bounced back from their EFL Cup final loss at Wembley Stadium last Sunday against Liverpool, to book a quarterfinal spot with Leicester City, who beat them in the 2021 FA Cup final.

Leeds had earlier taken a shock lead when Chelsea played themselves into trouble. A risky pass from Axel Disasi was intercepted and Jaidon Anthony laid off to Mateo Joseph who lashed in from close range.

It took just seven minutes for Chelsea to produce a response – Nicholas Jackson pulled the hosts level, stroking the ball through Illan Meslier‘s legs from an acute angle.

The finish for Chelsea's second was even better as Mykhailo Mudryk raced onto a Raheem Sterling pull back to turn past Meslier for his first goal of 2024.

Leeds enjoyed a lot of the ball possession in the second half and levelled when Jaidon Anthony's pinpoint cross arrived perfectly onto Joseph’s head on the hour mark.

But it was substitute Gallagher who spared Chelsea's blushes as he swivelled and swept past Meslier with just five seconds of the 90 remaining, setting up a rerun of the 2021 final against Leicester City.

In the evening’s other fixtures, Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers earned 1-0 wins over Nottingham Forest and Brighton & Hove Albion respectively.

Casemiro proved an unlikely hero late on as Manchester United snuck past Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.

Mario Lemina scored the only goal of the game as Wolves beat Brighton in an all-Premier League affair.

Meanwhile, Liverpool kept their quadruple hopes alive with a comfortable 3-0 home success over Southampton to set up a huge quarter-final meeting with Man Utd.

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