Manchester City are 45 minutes from the FA Cup final as they go in a half time with a 1-0 lead, no more than they deserved from their first half display.
City started the better of the sides, breaking with purpose and with the interplay and exchanges between Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero troubling the Chelsea defence, and it was Aguero who forced a smart reaction save from Peter Cech after five minutes.
Chelsea may have been feeling the effects of their midweek trip to Russia and City often had them on the back foot, the trio of Oscar, Eden Hazard nod Juan Mata unable to maintain consistent periods of possession. It was not until the 23rd minute of the game until Costel Pantilimon was tested in the City goal but this spurred Chelsea into life and Gareth Barry went into the book for bringing down Ramires as Chelsea shot to strike the first blow.
However, they could not build on this spell though as City broke the deadlock after 35 minutes. Yaya Toure, impressing as he so often does at Wembley, broke forward and teed up Samir Nasri to hit home from close range. City could have added to their total late in the half as both James Milner and particularly Vincent Kompany wasted excellent opportunities.