Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream — how to watch FA Cup semi-final online

Kai Havertz of Chelsea and Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace could both feature in the Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream
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The Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream will see the eight-times FA Cup holders play a semi-final against a side who have never won the trophy. It's streaming live FOR FREE on the ITV Hub — and if you're not in the U.K. right now you can tune in via a VPN.

Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream, date, time, channels

The Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream takes place today (Sunday, April 17).
Time  4.30 p.m. BST / 11.30 a.m. ET / 8.30 a.m. PT
• U.K. — Watch FOR FREE on the ITV Hub
• U.S. — Watch on ESPN Plus
• Watch anywhere — try ExpressVPN 100% risk free

Chelsea are FA Cup royalty, with the third highest number of appearances in the final, including the last two. They lost both of those, against Arsenal and Leicester, and will be desperate to pick up winners' medals this year, particularly as they've just been dumped out of the Champions League.

Boss Thomas Tuchel has a couple of selection dilemmas ahead of him. In goal, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Edouard Mendy have both featured in past rounds, and there's little indication as to which will start on Sunday. 

Up front, Kai Havertz is again joined by Timo Werner, who has scored four in his past two games. Christian Pulisic and Romelu Lukaku are both among the subs. 

Crystal Palace, meanwhile, have never won the FA Cup and have only two final appearances to their name, with the most recent in 2016. The chance to take on Man City or Liverpool at Wembley in May awaits Patrick Vieira's increasingly accomplished side if they can dispatch Thomas Tuchel's inconsistent Blues.

They'll have to do so without star midfielder Conor Gallagher, though, as he's on loan from Chelsea. The club did ask for special dispensation for him to play, but Chelsea turned down the request. To make matters worse, Michael Olise is only fit enough for the bench, although defender Tyrick Mitchell has at least recovered from injury.

Here's how they line up:

Chelsea: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger; James, Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso; Mount; Havertz, Werner

Crystal Palace: Butland; Ward, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell; Kouyate, McArthur, Schlupp; Eze, Mateta, Zaha

Liverpool await the winner here in the final, following their 3-2 win over Manchester City today. Which team will they face? You can find out by watching the Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream — and we'll show you how to do that below. 

Plus, if you're looking for more sport, we can also tell you how to watch the Premier League week 33 fixtures online wherever you are.

How to watch the Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream for free in the UK

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The Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream will be shown live on ITV and the ITV Hub, with kick off set for 4.30 p.m. BST.

If, however, you're an a Brit with a valid TV licence who isn't in the U.K. right now, you can still watch your usual services from your home country. All you'll need is one of the best VPNs, like ExpressVPN. Read on and we'll explain…

How to watch the Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream wherever you are

The Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream will be shown on many different channels across the world, but what if you're not in your home country and want to watch it on your usual service?

The answer is to use a VPN, or virtual private network. A VPN will let you tune into your home coverage from wherever you are — meaning that if you're abroad, you can use one of the best VPN services to watch the games live as if you were in your lounge.

Our favorite right now is ExpressVPN, thanks to its combination of superb speed, great customer service and excellent device support. It also offers a no-questions-asked 30-day money-back guarantee, so you could check it out without having to sign up long term.

ExpressVPN

Speed, security and simplicity combine to make ExpressVPN our favorite VPN service. In our testing, we were impressed by its fast connection times and by its ability to access more than 3,000 services in 160 locations across 94 countries. A 30-day money-back guarantee is another bonus.

Using a VPN is incredibly simple.

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, ExpressVPN is our favorite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance if you're in the U.S. and want to view a U.K. service, you'd select U.K. from the list.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to the ITV Hub or another service and watch the game.

Exclusive Tom's Guide Discount: Save 49% on the 12-month ExpressVPN plan

How to watch the Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream in the US

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You're going to need ESPN Plus to watch the Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream — and indeed, to watch every FA Cup game this season. 

ESPN Plus is ESPN's standalone streaming service and is available via the ESPN website and many of the best streaming devices.

How to watch the Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream in Canada

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Canadian soccer fans can watch the Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream on Sportsnet Now. As well as being available via most cable services, Sportsnet Now can also be streamed online, so there's no excuse not to tune in.

Canadians stuck abroad that still want their low-price alternative can use a VPN such as ExpressVPN to trick their streaming device into thinking it's back in the great white north.

How to watch the Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream in Australia

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Those lucky Aussies can watch the Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream on Paramount Plus — in fact, they can watch every FA Cup tie on the streaming service. 

Paramount Plus costs AU$8.99/month or AU$89.9 a year but if you sign up now you can get a 7-day free trial — meaning you could watch the Chelsea vs Crystal Palace live stream for free.

Not in Australia right now? You can simply use a VPN such as as ExpressVPN to watch all the action on your account, as if you were back home.

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Marc McLaren

Formerly Editor in Chief (U.K.) on Tom’s Guide, Marc oversaw all gaming, streaming, audio, TV, entertainment, how-to and cameras coverage, and was also responsible for the site’s U.K.-focused output. He is now U.K. Editor in Chief on TechRadar. Marc previously edited the tech website Stuff and has tested and written about phones, tablets, wearables, streaming boxes, smart home devices, Bluetooth speakers, headphones, games, TVs, cameras and much more. He also spent years on a music magazine, where his duties mainly involved spoiling other people’s fun, and on a car magazine. An avid photographer, he likes nothing better than taking pictures of very small things (bugs, his daughters) or very big things (distant galaxies). When he gets time, he also enjoys gaming (console and mobile), cycling and attempting to watch as much sport as any human can. He's also fallen in love with Wordle over the past six months and is the author of our today's Wordle answer column, in which he supplies hints and strategy tips for the mega-popular word game. Given he's completed every single Wordle so far and only lost once, and analyzed every Wordle answer in search of patterns, he's well qualified to help you safeguard your streak.