Jason Wilcox made one change to the side that drew 2-2 with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium to seal a place in the final with Joel Latibeaudiere replacing Ash Kigbu.
City had to cope with a lot of Chelsea pressure in the early stages and they held them off consistently.
First, Daniel Grimshaw showed great reactions to deny Ike Ugbo from close range and then Jay Dasilva’s deep cross struck the woodwork before bouncing clear.
The young Blues created their best chance of the first half in the 25th minute when Lukas Nmecha got in behind the Chelsea defence before seeing his low shot parried away by Nathan Baxter.
Brahim Diaz came close a minute later as he fired narrowly over from the edge of the area as City pressed for the opening goal of the game.
A great piece of defending from Latibeaudiere prevented Ugbo from reaching a dangerous cross at the back post before Fikayo Tomori nodded wide as the two teams headed into half time at 0-0.
The away side took the lead five minutes after the restart when Mount rifled home from just inside the area after being set up by Trevor Chalobah.
City responded excellent to going behind and were level and drew level in the 68th minute.
Brahim played the ball into Nmecha and he laid it off for Nemane. The 18-year old winger took one touch to set himself before curling the ball into the top corner to spark jubilant celebrations both on and off the pitch.
Isaac Buckley, on as a substitute for Manu Garcia, caused problems for the Chelsea defence immediately as his low shot rippled into the side netting with City knocking on the door for a second.
The two sides were involved in a midfield battle as the game ticked towards the full time whistle with neither side throwing bodies forward in an attempt to not leave gaps at the back.
Grimshaw was forced into a save in the final few minutes to deny Dujon Sterling from the edge of the area but no further chances were created and the game finished 1-1.
The second leg will be played on Wednesday 27 April at Stamford Bridge, 7.45pm kick off, and will once again be shown on ITV4.
