Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus scores the opening goal.Matt Dunham/The Associated Press
Gabriel Jesus sent quadruple-chasing Manchester City into the FA Cup final by sealing a 1-0 victory over Brighton on Saturday.
Returning to the scene of City’s League Cup triumph in February, the forward met Kevin De Bruyne’s cross with a diving header in the fourth minute of the Wembley Stadium semifinal.
City was fortunate to finish the game with 11 men after Kyle Walker pushed his head toward Brighton forward Alireza Jahanbakhsh in the 32nd minute. Walker was only given a yellow card and survived a VAR review.
City will play Wolverhampton or Watford in its first FA Cup final since 2013 when Roberto Mancini’s side was beaten by Wigan.
By the time the five-time FA Cup winners contest the May 18 final, Pep Guardiola will be hoping to have defended the Premier League title when the campaign ends the previous weekend.
City also remains in contention for a first Champions League title. Guardiola’s side plays Tottenham in an all-English quarterfinal which starts with a first leg in north London on Tuesday.
SURVIVAL BIDS
There were three Premier League games on Saturday before the semifinal.
Luka Milivojevic sent Crystal Palace to the brink of safety by securing a 1-0 victory at Newcastle from a penalty in the 81st after DeAndre Yedlin’s clumsy challenge on Wilfried Zaha. While Palace moved 11 points clear of danger with five games remaining, Newcastle is seven points above the relegation zone.
Burnley is a point better off than Newcastle after winning 3-1 at Bournemouth. After Ashley Barnes scored an own-goal, Chris Wood and Ashley Westwood turned the game around by halftime. Barnes netted the third.
Jamie Vardy scored twice as Leicester beat Huddersfield 4-1 to make it four successive league wins. Youri Tielemans and James Maddison also scored for Brendan Rodgers’ seventh-placed side.