CHELSEA prevailed over Jose Mourinho’s forceful, spoiling tactics to end Manchester United’s FA Cup defense and set up a semifinal derby with Tottenham.

    On another gloomy return to Stamford Bridge for Mourinho, United’s aggressive attempts to neutralize Eden Hazard backfired when Ander Herrera was booked twice for fouling the winger and dismissed 35 minutes into Monday’s quarterfinal.

    “We were complaining,” Chelsea defender Gary Cahill said after the 1-0 victory. “We felt Eden was getting harassed.”

    Chelsea’s trip to Wembley Stadium was secured six minutes into the second half when N’Golo Kante switched from midfield enforcer to match-winner. Paul Pogba failed to close down France teammate Kante, who found the space to score from 20 meters and keep the Premier League leaders on course for a domestic double.

    It’s rare for Kante to be in the scoring spotlight, although his only other goal since joining Chelsea last year came on United’s last visit to west London. Even with 10 men, Mourinho avoided the humiliation of October’s 4-0 league loss but only through an ultra-defensive display that saw United’s possession drop to a season-low of 28 percent.

    And also, according to Chelsea, by targeting Hazard.

    “For Hazard, (for) 20, 25 minutes it was impossible to play football, because he received only kicks,” Chelsea manager Antonio Conte said. “A tactic to play and go to kick an opponent? It’s not football for me. ... Sometimes when you play against players with great talent, you try to intimidate those players.”

    Chelsea’s fans sought to intimidate through chants, and they pained Mourinho, the most successful manager in the London club’s history before being fired for a second time in 2015.

    “You’re not special anymore,” sang Chelsea fans, between expletive-filled chants directed at the self-styled “Special One” who they branded “Judas.”

    Mourinho responded with typical bravado, directing three fingers at the fans who once adored him to signal the trio of Premier League titles he won across two spells in charge at Chelsea. He waited until after the quarterfinal to deliver another riposte to fans with short memories.

    “They can call me what they want,” Mourinho said. “Until the moment they have a manager that wins four Premier Leagues for them I am the No. 1 ... Judas is No. 1.”

    But maybe not No. 1 this May. Mourinho is left with only one route to silverware — the Europa League — in his first season in charge of Manchester United.

    Chelsea is No. 1 in the Premier League with a 10-point lead, while United has sunk to sixth. If Chelsea can beat London rival Tottenham, it will play either Manchester City or Arsenal in the FA Cup final in May to complete Conte’s first season in charge.

    The revival of a club in discord after Mourinho’s December 2015 exit is in large part due to the revival of a player reviled toward the end of the Portuguese coach’s tenure.

    Hazard was a constant danger again against United, barreling through an ineffective resistance with his fleet-footed runs even when it was 11 vs. 11.

    It was Hazard who was the first to test goalkeeper David De Gea after breaking away from Chris Smalling around the halfway and beating two more United players before his 16th-minute strike. From the resulting corner it took De Gea low at full stretch to keep out Cahill’s close-range effort.(SD-Agencies)