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The Inside Chelsea column with Ben Jacobs

Chelsea once again put in an excellent performance against Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final. City, who were not at their best, were definitely there for the taking.

Unfortunately, Nicolas Jackson just couldn’t put away one of his three big chances. A lot has been made of the close-range header, but the most disappointing ‘miss’ in my view was the clean-through opportunity.

Jackson started his run in his own half, so should have known he was onside taking away any hesitancy. A confident striker would have hit the ball early with a large part of the goal to aim at. Jackson took too long, decided to go around the keeper, and sadly didn’t even get a shot off, opting instead for a low-percentage cutback due to defenders tracking back.

Jackson is clearly still a bit rough-edged, but he does have 13 goals in all competitions and a high ceiling to improve. He is also a charismatic and confident personality off the field. It’s just a shame everyone focuses on the misses, not the potential.

I also think Chelsea should have had a penalty when Cole Palmer’s free-kick hit Jack Grealish’s arm. It’s one of those incidents that may divide opinion. After all, what is Grealish supposed to do when jumping? But Michael Oliver should have absolutely and at worst been sent to the monitor because he didn’t even see the incident.

If the penalty was given, it would have come exclusively from VAR rather than confirming or countering an on-field decision. This is because a goal kick was given, so we have to presume Oliver didn’t award a penalty because he didn’t think any contact was made with the ball by Grealish. Oliver is not saying ‘no penalty’ because his arm was in a natural position. He’s saying no penalty because he didn’t see any contact at all.

When VAR look they are, by that logic, deciding on an incident the on-field officials missed, otherwise it would have been a corner. So at worst, surely you advise Oliver to go and judge it for himself (keeping power with the referee) and because it’s obviously not 100% clear cut. It’s also farcical, when Oliver knows VAR are checking due to contact with Grealish's arm that he can’t change the goal kick to a corner when play still hasn’t resumed. This is the correct application of the rules, but frustrating nonetheless.

Chelsea fans will naturally be disappointed the loss to Manchester City confirmed a trophyless season, but I think the game itself showed progress. You would much rather Chelsea show themselves capable of going toe-to-toe with top teams, and now have to find a way to beat other sides they are stronger than on paper. This is an easier fix, surely, than if they beat more lower-half sides but were consistently poor against big-six teams.

Chelsea will now focus on getting European football via the Premier League and are still firmly in the mix for sixth-place. Away at Arsenal may seem like a tough fixture, but Chelsea have been better all season against stronger opposition and came incredibly close to beating Mikel Arteta’s side at Stamford Bridge in the reverse fixture.