A wonderful week for the Blues is capped with the side securing our fourth FA Cup semi-final in three years after a 5-2 victory. Gary Cahill opened the scoring with a towering header before Salomon Kalou put us firmly in the ascendancy with a smart finish. Fernando Torres made it 3-0 from Meireles's pass to the delight of the home support, but Leicester hit back through Jermaine Beckford.

Torres scored his second of the game late on with a near-post header but, incredibly, Leicester hit back again when Ben Marshall scored a wonderful goal from distance. Raul Meireles, though, finally put the game beyond doubt in the closing minutes when he scored from close-range following Torres's lay-off.

It's now four straight wins for Roberto Di Matteo and we head to Eastlands for a Barclays Premier League clash against Manchester City on Wednesday in great spirits.

Without doubt, Torres's first and our third of the afternoon was the highlight for every Chelsea supporter. It had been a long time coming, but he was inventive and persistent throughout and the brace he secured will undoubtedly do his confidence the world of good.

- First half

After 120 minutes of action in midweek, it was no surprise that Roberto Di Matteo made wholesale changes to the side. Only Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Daniel Sturridge and Juan Mata remained from the team which started against Napoli.

Jose Bosingwa came in at right-back, while Cahill replaced John Terry in central defence. Ashley Cole was rested completely, with Ryan Bertrand continuing his FA Cup run at left-back. In midfield, meanwhile, Meireles returned from suspension to play in front of the back four alongside John Mikel Obi, while Kalou and Torres also both started.

The Blues carved out the first chance of the game inside the opening four minutes when Sturridge released Torres down the right-hand side, but as the Spaniard found his fellow countryman Mata inside the box, his shot was deflected behind for a corner.

The Leicester bench felt that they had a legitimate penalty claim waved away shortly after when Meireles looked to have tripped Jermaine Beckford as we failed to clear our lines properly.

Beckford, who scored against us last season for Everton, was in the thick of the action again a minute later when he went close with a curling effort from the edge of the penalty area, and it was clear from the opening exchanges that the visitors weren't going to be overawed.

It was the Blues, though, who took the lead in the 12th minute, when Cahill rose highest to head home Mata's corner for his first Chelsea goal. As he wheeled away, in what was a touching gesture for a former teammate, the defender revealed a supportive message for Fabrice Muamba underneath his shirt.

Six minutes later and we doubled our advantage with a quick, devastating counter attack. Torres broke away down the right once again and, after spotting the run of Kalou, he slipped the Ivorian in who finished in style.

The second goal appeared to ease any nerves Di Matteo's side may have harboured earlier on, and we could easily have been out of sight when both Sturridge and Torres went close in quick succession.

The Spaniard, in particular, was a constant threat, and his link-up play with Sturridge, Mata and Kalou was causing Nigel Pearson's side all manner of problems every time we attacked.

Leicester, however, backed by 6,000 vocal supporters, responded well to our second goal as they looked to hit back, and both Beckford and Neil Danns provided the warning signs for the Blues.

Danns was enjoying an impressive game on the big stage for the Championship side, and Ivanovic had to be alert to clear the danger following the midfielder's foray into our penalty area as Cech advanced off his line.

- Second half

Di Matteo made one change at the interval, replacing Mata with Florent Malouda, and the substitute almost made an instant impact, forcing Casper Schmeichel into a smart save down to his left with a powerful drive.

Torres then released Sturridge with an intelligent ball but the youngster held on to it too long and was dispossessed to the fury of the home support.

Torres went close yet again when he smartly brought down Bertrand's floated cross, but as he pulled the trigger under pressure his strike cannoned off a defender and went behind for a corner.

Lloyd Dyer almost handed Leicester a lifeline on the hour mark when he used his pace to get in behind the Blues defence before firing inches past Cech's right-hand post with the keeper beaten.

Di Matteo made his second change of the afternoon shortly after when the injured Kalou limped out of the action and straight down the tunnel for treatment, with Michael Essien replacing him.

In the 66th minute Torres finally got the goal his performance had merited to send the home supporters delirious.

Sturridge did well to release Meireles, and the Portuguese midfielder cleverly teed up the striker who side-footed his effort past Schmeichel into the bottom corner, before being mobbed by his delighted teammates.

Torres almost doubled his tally barely a minute later when he whipped his strike inches over the bar following Sturridge's lay-off as the Blues looked to put the game to bed.

Leicester, though, set up a frantic finish in the 77th minute when Beckford prodded home from close-range after Danns's strike had bounced back off the post and, in truth, it was a goal their efforts had deserved.

The visitors sensed that the game wasn't completely out of reach and poured forward as they searched for a goal that truly would ensure a nervy finish, while the Blues responded by replacing Ivanovic with David Luiz.

Torres capped a marvellous individual display when he headed his second of the game from a Meireles corner to put us 4-1 up, but Leicester responded instantly with an absolute screamer from long-range by the substitute Ben Marshall.

As the visitors sensed there was still something in the game for them, the Blues caught then napping on the break and, as Torres worked his way into the box, with the crowd encouraging him to shoot, he calmly rolled it into the path of Meireles who scored to make it 5-2 and book our semi-final place.

- Match stats:

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech (c); Bosingwa, Ivanovic (David Luiz 75), Cahill, Bertrand; Mikel Obi, Meireles; Sturridge, Mata (Malouda h/t), Kalou (Essien 62); Torres
Unused substitutes: Hilario, Ferreira, Lampard, Drogba
Scorers: Cahill, Kalou, Torres 2, Meireles.

Leicester City (4-4-2): Schmeichel; St Ledger (Schlupp 62), Bamba, Morgan, Konchesky; Gallagher (Peltier 42), Danns, Wellens (c) (Marshall 83), Dyer; Beckford, Nugent.
Unused substitutes: Smith, Howard, Marshall, , Kennedy, Hopper
Scorers: Beckford, Marshall
Referee: Lee Probert
Crowd: 38,276


- Match report by chelseafc.com