FA CUP SEMI FINAL IN PICTURE | TOTTENHAM 1 CHELSEA 5

Chelsea set up an FA Cup final against Liverpool after putting Tottenham to the sword with a ruthless beating at Wembley, but they were helped on their way by a goal which should never have been given.

Juan Mata put the Blues two up after the break in hugely controversial circumstances with referee Martin Atkinson awarding the goal despite replays showing the Spaniard's shot did not cross the line.

But that slice of luck could not detract from Chelsea's superiority.

Dispute: Juan Mata (left) celebrates after 'scoring' a highly controversial goal for Chelsea against Tottenham

MATCH FACTS

Tottenham: Cudicini; Walker, Gallas, King, Assou-Ekotto; Parker (Sandro 90), Modric; Lennon, Van der Vaart (Defoe 75), Bale; Adebayor.

Subs not used: Friedel, Nelsen, Rose, Dos Santos, Livermore, Sandro.

Booked: Gallas, Parker, Adebayor

Goal: Bale 56.

Chelsea: Cech; Bosingwa, Luiz (Cahill 59), Terry, Cole; Mikel, Lampard; Ramires (Malouda 82), Mata, Kalou; Drogba (Torres 84).

Subs not used: Turnbull, Essien, Meireles, Sturridge

Booked: Drogba, Mikel

Goals: Drogba 43, Mata 49, Ramires 77, Lampard 81, Malouda 90+4

Att: 85,731

Ref: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).

Didier Drogba scored his seventh goal at Wembley to put the Blues ahead and, even though an incensed Spurs pulled one back straight after Mata's second through Gareth Bale, a cool finish from Ramires, a blistering 30-yard free-kick from Frank Lampard, and a late fifth from Florent Malouda wrapped up a huge win for the west London club and piled yet more misery on Spurs boss Harry Redknapp.

Many saw this evening's game as an audition for Redknapp at the home of English football, but his team were nowhere near clinical enough and Roberto Di Matteo's deserved the win.

Chelsea, now through to their 11th FA Cup final, raised their game to play like a team used to gracing the Wembley turf while Redknapp's team were wasteful and nervous.

Tottenham, who went in to this game with one win in their last eight league matches, will have no trophy to show for a season that started with so much hope but threatens to end with a big whimper.

Chelsea thoroughly deserved their win and will now go into Wednesday's game against Barcelona rightly full of confidence.

There was no indication this game would end up being a goal-fest during a nervy opening quarter in north London.

Opener: Didier Drogba fires Chelsea in front against Tottenham at Wembley

Drogba bustled his way past William Gallas to get on the end of a long punt from the back but he horribly mis-hit a volley and Cudicini gathered.

The Chelsea defence then backed off and allowed Scott Parker in, but Lampard put in a crucial block.

Pick it out: Drogba (left) is congratulated by his team-mates after putting Chelsea in front

Careless defending from Kyle Walker then almost gifted Chelsea the lead. He dallied on the ball and Salomon Kalou took advantage, galloping 40 yards towards goal before finding Mata, but his touch let him down.

The Spurs fans thought their team had the breakthrough nine minutes before half-time when Rafael van der Vaart beat Petr Cech, but John Terry cleared off the line.

The goal that never was: Juan Mata (right) is awarded a goal despite the ball not crossing the line

 

Emmanuel Adebayor then missed an easy chance. The former Arsenal striker slipped his marker to get in the path of Van der Vaart's looping cross but he failed to connect and the ball struck a post before bouncing to safety.

Tottenham were instantly made to pay for the mistake as Drogba fired Chelsea ahead in the 43rd minute.

Come on ref! Scott Parker leads the Tottenham protest after Martin Atkinson awarded the Chelsea goal

The former Marseille man picked up Lampard's long ball and turned Gallas easily before firing a fierce rising shot past Carlo Cudicini.

Chelsea's second came in the 48th minute, but only in very controversial circumstances.

Superman: Emmanuel Adebayor is sent flying by Carlo Cudicini as Gareth Bale (right) prepares to score

Ledley King's clearance from David Luiz's header fell in to the path of Mata, whose shot hit King on the line and Benoit Assou-Ekotto then cleared while laying on the turf.

The ball had not crossed the line, but referee Atkinson blew his whistle and awarded the goal, much to the fury of the Spurs players and supporters.

Back in it: Bale slots the ball into the empty net to haul Tottenham back into the game

Van der Vaart led the vocal protests, shouting at the referee, while another group of Spurs players surrounded assistant Mick McDonough complaining at the decision.

Atkinson waved away their protests, however, and the goal stood.

Blow: David Luiz is stretchered off after suffering an injury against Tottenham

Tottenham got themselves back in to the game six minutes later.

Scott Parker's brilliant slide-rule pass sent Adebayor free, he was sent tumbling by Petr Cech and Luiz, but the referee played advantage, allowing Bale to tap in to an empty goal from five yards.

Back on track: Ramires clips the ball beyond Cudicini (above) before celebrating his goal (below)

Luiz was hurt in the challenge and was carried off on a stretcher to be replaced by Gary Cahill.

Chelsea almost restored their two-goal cushion on the hour mark when Terry climbed to meet Lampard's corner but Assou-Ekotto cleared off the line.

Game over: Frank Lampard curls the ball home for Chelsea's fourth goal as they sea their final spot

King headed just wide from Van der Vaart's corner as Spurs looked desperately for an equaliser in the final 20 minutes.

Redknapp looked to Jermain Defoe for inspiration, the England striker replacing Van der Vaart with 15 minutes to go, but the game soon fell to pieces for the men in white.

Five star: Florent Malouda slots the ball home to complete Chelsea's rout over Tottenham

Ramires latched on to Mata's through-ball after being played onside by Walker and he coolly lifted the ball over the advancing Cudicini.

The Tottenham fans fell silent for the first time and they started leaving in their droves with 10 minutes to go thanks to a brilliant 30-yard free-kick from Lampard which dipped and swerved past Cudicini to make it 4-1.

Florent Malouda replaced Ramires and, worryingly for Di Matteo, Drogba hobbled off to be replaced by Fernando Torres.

Handbags: Scott Parker and John Obi Mikel clashed as the semi-final got heated at Wembley

Malouda robbed Gallas and wandered unchallenged in to the box, but his looping shot just missed the goal, and Torres at the back post.

Tottenham's frustration boiled over in injury-time when Parker lashed out at John Obi Mikel after the Nigerian kicked the England captain while he was on the floor. Both were booked.

The humiliation was complete moments later when Malouda got on the end of Mata's pass and slid past Cudicini for Chelsea's fifth.

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PLAYER POWER REIGN AND RULES AT CHELSEA FC

Lampard and Terry crane their necks to get a view from the benchAndre Villas-Boas's sacking from Chelsea at the weekend is another victory for player power at the club.

While the results were poor for the Portuguese coach — he had both the lowest win percentage and points-per-game average of any Chelsea manager since Roman Abramovich bought the club — he was brought in with the long-term objective of making significant changes at Stamford Bridge.

He was meant to not only oversee a transition from an ageing squad into a more youthful one but also to change the whole culture of the club, from the formation and style on the pitch to the way things operated off it.

Such things take time, a commodity rarely afforded to the man in the Chelsea hot seat. Villas-Boas was no different, despite his supposed forward-thinking brief.

He would occasionally put some of the more senior players on the bench, and that immediately got them upset.

A big fuss was made every time Frank Lampard was not in the starting line-up but he has played in 23 of Chelsea's 27 league games so far this season, starting 20 of those. In fact, if you look at the team sheets for Chelsea's most disappointing results under Villas-Boas, Lampard started many of those games.

But he and the other established stars at the club seem to be beyond reproach. It is always the manager who carries the can as far as Abramovich is concerned.

The players who had brought the trophies to the club over the past decade obviously got nervous at the thought of their positions being threatened, but you cannot stop the march of time. Every footballer, even the greatest ones, has to accept that eventually they have to start winding their involvement down.

If you look at players such as Ryan Giggs or Jamie Carragher, the reason they still have a place in the clubs they have served so well over the years is because they have made peace with the fact they no longer have an automatic place in the team, despite previous successes in which they were instrumental. They are happy to play whatever part their manager sees fit for them, and are ready to do so at all times. You cannot say the same for many of the current Chelsea squad.

For there to be so much player power at a club the size of Chelsea is, quite frankly, a disgrace. I have never seen anything like it before. I suppose it is a symptom of the age, with salaries so much greater than they were and egos to match.

Finding the right man to manage that below him and contend with such an impatient employer above him is very difficult. They say that managing England is the impossible job, but being in charge of Chelsea must run it a close second.

With Chelsea seemingly going backwards and them no longer enjoying the same financial advantage over their rivals as they used to, it is a genuine concern that they will not hit the heights of a few years ago again any time soon.

The club needs a whole new ethos, cemented from top to bottom, if it is going to recover from this and meet the high standards set during the early years of the Abramovich era. However, that will take time, something that it is hard to see any manager getting at Chelsea.

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BREAKING NEWS | CHELSEA FC SACK COACH AVB

Andre Villas-Boas has parted company with Chelsea Football Club today.

The board would like to record our gratitude for his work and express our disappointment that the relationship has ended so early.

Unfortunately the results and performances of the team have not been good enough and were showing no signs of improving at a key time in the season.

The club is still competing in the latter stages of the Uefa Champions League and the FA Cup, as well as challenging for a top-four spot in the Premier League, and we aim to remain as competitive as possible on all fronts.

With that in mind we felt our only option was to make a change at this time.

With immediate effect Roberto Di Matteo has been appointed first team coach on an interim basis until the end of the season.

This shows that the Player Power is at work in ChelseaFc. Maybe one day, Lampard will be a Coach because he seems to get upset with all the coaches.

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GHANA COACH ACCUSES PLAYERS OF USING WITCHCRAFT ON THEIR FELLOW PLAYERS

Ghana coach Goran Stevanovic claims some of his players turned on each other using withcraft at the Africa Cup of Nations, according to a report published by the BBC on Friday.

Stevanovic’s astonishing accusation of deep divisions in the Black Stars’ ranks emerged from a leaked review of the team’s performance in Gabon where Ghana were knocked out by eventual winners Zambia in the semi-finals.

“We all need to help in changing some players’ mentality about using ‘black power’ to destroy themselves, and also make sure we instil discipline and respect for each other,” the coach said, according to the BBC.

In a report delivered to the Ghana Football Association’s (GFA) executive committee, Stevanovic added: “After losing to Zambia, there arose so many accusations amongst the players.

“I have learnt great lessons from African football and also about Ghanaian players’ behaviour on and off the field.”

Sarfo Gyami, part of the Ghana side at the 1992 Nations Cup, said: “It has always happened, but players have used it to protect themselves and normally in search of luck.

“I have never heard of a situation when players have used it against their own colleagues. That is a very bad situation.”

Despite outward signs of unity both Stevanovic and GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi suggest the reality at the 2012 Nations Cup was very different.

“During the competition we observed that some players played to achieve personal fame, prominence and excellence to the detriment of the team,” Nyantakyi told a press conference this week.

“We also had complaints from some senior players, accusing some of the junior ones of disrespect.”

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MORE THAN 75 PEOPLE DIED IN EGYPT FOOTBALL VIOLENT INVASION

At least 73 football fans have been killed and 1,000 others left injured after riots broke out at a match in Egypt.

Seconds after the referee blew his whistle, supporters swarmed onto the pitch throwing stones, fireworks and bottles at rival fans, players and security officers in the city of Port Said, officials said.

It was the worst incident of soccer violence in Egypt and the deadliest worldwide since 1996.

It is the biggest disaster in the country’s football history, said the Egyptian deputy health minister.

“This is unfortunate and deeply saddening,” Hesham Sheiha told state television.

Some of the dead were security officers, the Associated Press news agency quoted a morgue official as saying.

The BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo said it appeared some fans had taken knives into the stadium.

He said the lack of the usual level of security in the stadium might have contributed to the clashes.

Police in Egypt have been keeping a much lower profile since last year’s popular protests that ousted President Hosni Mubarak from power.

Egyptian fans are notoriously violent, particularly supporters of Al-Ahly, who are known as the Ultras.

They have been heavily implicated in the political confrontations recently, the report added.

Football fans in Egypt can be violent, and certainly there is a bitter rivalry between these two teams.

The Al-Ahly fans have a particular reputation for violence.

But lately they have been at the forefront of clashes with the police.

Wednesday’s violence broke out at the end of the match, which, unusually, Port Said side Masry won 3-1.

As the match ended, their fans flooded onto the pitch attacking Ahly players and fans.

A small group of riot police tried to protect the players, but were overwhelmed.

Part of the stadium was set on fire.

Helicopters were sent to Port Said to transport injured fans.

“This is not football. This is a war and people are dying in front of us,” Al-Ahly player Mohamed Abo Treika said.

All premier league matches have been cancelled and the newly-elected Egyptian parliament is to hold an emergency session on Thursday, state TV announced.

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DIDIER DROGBA'S MOTHER COOKS FOR FAN

In the ongoing African Cup of NAtion, the mother of Cote d’Ivoire international Didier Drogba has been cooking for the national team supporters at a makeshift restaurant she set up near the fans’ village in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, where the Elephants are playing their Group B games.

Clotilde Drogba, who personally does the traditional home cooking of fried plantain chips, pepper soup, white rice, tomato sauce and attieke, said it was her contribution to nation at the tournament by feeding the supporters so they could have enough strength to cheer the team to final victory.

Every match day, some 60 members of the national committee of the Elephants supporters queue up with empty bowls to collect food free off charge from the mother of the most influential Ivorian player, before heading to the stands to sing and clap.

Ivory Coast sports minister Philippe Legre visited the supporters’ village early this week and handed the sum of $100 (R776) to each of the 60 men and women.

Local pundits have criticised the Ivorian authorities for sponsoring a very few number of supporters to the showpiece as opposed to other members of the group who came in with larger contingents.

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CHELSEA VS ARSENAL PREVIEW | YOUR PREDICTIONS

Hi there, today I want to discuss the great match tomorrow Chelsea Vs Arsenal. The two London teams will lock horn in the Stamford Bridge tomorrow afternoon.

Chelsea failed to capitalise on Manchester United's dramatic failure last weekend, but remain in third. At the same stage last season the Blues, after a famously impressive start, topped the table and had six points more than now. Arsenal, meanwhile, were seven points better off than now with a goal difference 14 better.

The Gunners have won only three of our last 19 meetings in all competitions over the last seven-and-a-half years. Their last piece of silverware was the 2005 FA Cup when they defeated Manchester United on penalties at the Millennium Stadium. Since then Chelsea have won two Premier League titles, three FA Cups, the League Cup and two Community Shields.

They will be grateful that their nemesis Didier Drogba is ruled out through suspension this weekend. Last season the Gunners' then skipper Cesc Fabregas could not even bear to invoke his name in the programme notes, instead writing 'They have a player who loves scoring against us.'

It's rumoured the people who clean the Ivorian's boots still occasionally find pieces of Senderos among the studs.

The prospect of facing his most likely replacement will not exactly fill visiting defender Per Mertesacker with delight.Fernando Torres is in fine form - four goals in four games in all competitions - and has scored twice in three league starts for Liverpool against the Gunners.

The Spain striker will aim to exploit his key advantage over Mertesacker. They haven't faced each other much, but on the highest profile occasion Torres ran Mertesacker and Metzelder of Germany ragged at Euro 2008, and beat the defence for pace to score the only goal of the final.

Arsenal's best defender, Thomas Vermaelen, may have recovered from his calf problem in midweek to aid their recent revival. However, that has largely taken place on home turf.

Domestic form on their travels is remarkably poor. Including the eight goals conceded at Old Trafford and four at Blackburn, the Gunners have lost three, drawn one and won none of their four away matches. Their record, with 14 conceded and a goal difference of -8, is the third worst in the league, just ahead of Swansea and Wigan.

In fact you have to go back five trips into last season, to a 3-1 at Blackpool on 10 April, to find Arsenal's most recent win.

Their danger man remains Robin van Persie, who was rested at the start of Arsenal's home games with Stoke City last weekend and Bolton in the League Cup. Against the Potters, he came on with the score at 1-1 and scored twice to manufacture a 3-1 win.

In 14 out of their last 22 games in all competitions in which they have managed a goal, their Dutch talisman has been on the scoresheet.

Chelsea's gain on Wednesday (the match-turning sending off of Everton's in-form Royston Drenthe) unfortunately also benefits our title rivals Manchester United this weekend as he is suspended.

It would also appear a forlorn hope that City would slip up at home to Wolves, who they demolished 5-2 at Molineux in midweek.

You can comment and predict on the results

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UEFA CHAMPION LEAGUE SCORES

Champions League - Group A
FT	Bayern Munich	2 - 0	Manchester C.
FT	Napoli	2 - 0	Villarreal
Champions League - Group B
00:15	September 27
FT	CSKA Moscow	2 - 3	Inter Milan
FT	Trabzonspor	1 - 1	Lille
Champions League - Group C
00:15	September 27
FT	Manchester U.	3 - 3	Basel
FT	Otelul Galati	0 - 1	Benfica
Champions League - Group D
00:15	September 27
FT	Lyon	2 - 0	Dinamo Zagreb
FT	Real Madrid	3 - 0	Ajax Amsterdam

This is tonight Champion league scores. The Manchester games was a cracker. City was defeated by Bayern Munchen while Man United escape defeat and have a Draw courtesy of Ashley Young goal.

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