Enzo Fernandez’s first-half header proved decisive as managerless Chelsea edged Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final 1-0 and they will return to face Manchester City in the final on May 16.
Daniel Farke’s side failed to reproduce the recent form that had lifted them clear of the bottom three, while Chelsea put off-field troubles behind them to halt an alarming slide and stay on course to rescue their season.
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Leeds skipper Ampadu told LUTV: “We weren’t ourselves in the first half. We weren’t good enough and weren’t up to the levels.
“When you play against a team with top-quality opposition, they can find a moment to put the ball in the back of the net, which is what they did.
“Second half, obviously, we pushed and gave it everything to the very end. And we created some moments, played better in the second half, but just obviously didn’t get the equaliser.”
Chelsea delivered an improved display after five successive top-flight defeats without scoring and the subsequent dismissal of head coach Liam Rosenior four days earlier.
They hit a post through Joao Pedro’s low effort soon after man-of-the-match Fernandez had headed home Pedro Neto’s 23rd-minute cross.
Leeds created their fair share of chances. Brenden Aaronson was foiled in an early one-on-one by Robert Sanchez, substitute Anton Stach’s thumping effort was well saved and Dominic Calvert-Lewin headed a golden chance straight at the Chelsea goalkeeper.
“We go into every single game with that confidence that we can play, we can show our levels,” Amapadu added. “I don’t think (it is) anyone’s fault, but it is just a lesson to learn to go into these next four.
“Our aim, of course, was to go as far as we can in the FA Cup, take it round by round. Once you are here, you want to get into the final, but we have got the Premier League and we want to survive.
“And we have full confidence if we play like we have been in the last few weeks that we can achieve that.
“We didn’t give the fans a day to celebrate, so we shall get behind each other and push in these last four (league games).”
Leeds, six points above third-bottom Tottenham, can take another big step towards safety in Friday’s home game against already-relegated Burnley.