BlueLion.

Spurs vs Chelsea FAPL, Saturday 27th April 2010, White Hart Lane, 1730 KO Chelsea face Spurs in a London derby as they look to win the Premier League title. The Blues beat their North London rivals 3-0 at Stamford Bridge, with ex-Arsenal defender Ashley Cole amongst the goalscorers. MATCH CHAT HERE

An efficient second half performance earned Chelsea a place in the FA Cup final after thrashing Aston Villa at Wembley. Just a fortnight after the impressive 7-1 mauling of Martin O'Neill's side at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea overcame Aston Villa once more to earn themselves the opportunity to make a successful defence of the FA Cup in the final on May 15. After a tight first half which saw Carlo Ancelotti's men thwarted by a resolute Villa side, the Blues began to dominate following the interval and took a deserved lead when Didier Drogba flicked home from John Terry's pass. Florent Malouda then celebrated his Player of the Month award with a superb volley after a breathless counter-attack, before Frank Lampard buried his twenty-second goal of the season - a personal best for the England man - to wrap up a conclusive triumph. The score is harsh on Villa, who were the better team in the opening exchanges and had Chelsea under pressure for long periods of the first forty-five minutes, but Chelsea were ruthless after the break and ultimately warranted their win. Had Howard Webb awarded the Midlands side a penalty kick after a blatant foul on Gabriel Agbonlahor by John Mikel Obi in the box, the match may turned out very differently indeed - however Chelsea were good value for the result based on their much-improved second half showing, and their double dream is still very much a possibility. Ancelotti made only one change to the side that started the win at Old Trafford last weekend, naming Didier Drogba in place of Nicolas Anelka, with regular cup goalkeeper Henrique Hilario restricted to an appearance on the bench due to a niggling injury. Once again it was the infamous Wembley pitch that was one of the key factors in what was a poor first half, with Chelsea looking lethargic and sloppy when in possession. James Milner and Paulo Ferreira were just two of the players who fell foul to the slippery surface in the opening exchanges - but the next player to go to ground did so under physical contact. With the ball at his feet and preparing to turn and fire goalwards, Gabriel Agbonlahor was pulled down by Mikel inside the Chelsea area, but no penalty was given. The Villa man did have a chunk of the Nigerian star's shirt, but it was another controversial decision awarded in favour of the Blues - maybe luck smiles on them once more? Chelsea responded with a header from Alex which failed to test Friedel, whilst Milner had earlier sent Cech scrambling with a long-range hit. The only real speck of quality demonstrated by the in-form cup holders was a smart turn of pace and strike by Joe Cole, who lashed into the side netting with the Villa keeper scrambling. However the best chance of the half fell to the lacklustre Blues, who were denied at the death by a piece of exceptional covering by Stephen Warnock as Drogba looked to poke home from close range. The second half saw Chelsea's midfield express more interest in the game and Lampard was soon at his dominating best. After a long spell of possession, the Blues fashioned the first chance of the half when Drogba turned Collins in the area, before seeing his shot charged down heroically by Dunne. But a much improved Blues eleven was not to be denied, and Malouda's corner was directed home by Drogba after a ricochet which involved a mistimed shot-cum-pass from Terry which allowed the Ivorian to flick beyond Friedel's despairing dive. And as they had done around the 70 minute mark at Stamford Bridge, Villa seemed to collapse physically; looking tired and bereft of ideas. However, O'Neill's side were not yet out of it, and as they looked to find an equalising goal they found themselves creating good opportunities, only for their final deliveries to be crafted more through hope than expectation. And they were made to pay when Malouda and Lampard added goals to add a layer of gloss to an efficient Chelsea display; Malouda first volleying home his 14th goal of the season from a magnificent Michael Ballack cross. Lampard's finish was one of composure and quality, and as he had done four times in the 7-1 drubbing of the Villains in March, he coolly slotted the ball beyond Friedel to send the Chelsea supporters into raptures. The Blue half of Wembley erupted into a semi-cauldron of noise and jubilation at the full-time whistle as Chelsea set up a May clash with either relegated Portsmouth or arch-rivals Tottenham; and you can bet your bottom dollar the Blues will be favourites to lift the famous trophy once more. Villa will claim themselves hard-done by considering the strength of their early penalty claim, but the statistics proved otherwise; Chelsea mustered an impressive 11 shots on goal to Villa's mere 3; something Petr Cech will certainly appreciate. However, no matter what is said in the aftermath, Chelsea won on the most important statistic of all - goals scored; 3-0. ___________________________________________________________________ Aston Villa (4-4-2) Friedel; Cuellar, Collins, Dunne, Warnock; Downing, Petrov ©, Milner, A Young; Agbonlahor, Carew (Heskey) Chelsea(4-3-3):Cech; Ferreira, Alex, Terry ©, Zhirkov; Deco (Ballack), Mikel, Lampard; J Cole (Kalou), Drogba (Anelka), Malouda. The TalkChelsea.net Man of the Match was Chelsea's number 26 - John TERRY

Wasn't his best performance today but he kept at it, and in the final half an hour or so he looked much more like Mr Consistent.

:mellow: Okay... Something that is relatively plain and t-shirt-like would be very popular as it could be something worn not only to the game but simply as another t-shirt, and would be a good move for the club and adidas.

My cousin text me saying 'Do you know what AVFC stands for?' Expecting him to come up with some working-class bollocks, I simply said: 'Another Victory For Chelsea?' We deserved it. They're lucky it wasn't seven, we were class in the last twenty minutes.

Ancelotti had his tactics spot on today. We were quite poor in the first half, but looking back I think the boss was willing to let Villa have most of the ball and let them attack us; and they did indeed look tired come the 70 minute mark.

Been poor, but the best chances have been our's. Can only get better in the second half. Terry and Yuri the stand-out performers so far.

Come on Chelsea!

Well he isn't getting any younger, so I think selling him would be a good move. It'll also be a bit of profit since we brought him here on a Bosman; he'll probably 'only' fetch around £1-2 million, but its a couple of million closer to us breaking even.

Our response to going out of Europe is what put us back in the title race. The draw with Blackburn was shocking, but look at the two games after; Chelsea 7-1 Aston Villa, Man United 1-2 Chelsea. Losing to Inter might be the single greatest blessing in disguise we could possibly have. Why? Because European matches are tiring. After losing in Munich, United were lethargic and tired and it was only a rousing second half performance that did them any credit. They were very slow in comparison to a Chelsea team given the week off; a benefit of not playing a European tie. I'm of course upset we whimpered out of Europe so pathetically, but for once, we were beaten by a team that played better than us over the two legs and deserved their win. However, if it means we don't have to play any more midweek fixtures, it's a bonus. Obviously United are out now, but there is the possibility of another European hangover.

Chelsea veteran goalkeeper Hilario set for summer switch to Sporting Lisbon Sporting Lisbon are interested in signing Chelsea third-choice goalkeeper Hilario. The 34-year-old has struggled to make any impression as understudy to Petr Cech and has made barely 20 appearances since joining the Blues on a free-transfer in 2006. Lisbon are looking to add another goalkeeper to their squad to challenge current no 1 Rui Patricio and the Chelsea stopper has been targeted to do so. Hilario was heavily criticised for his part in Chelsea's 4-2 defeat at home to Manchester City in the Premier League last month. Manager Carlo Ancelotti has deemed the Portuguese shot-stopper surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge, with a move back to his homeland highly inevitable. Source - Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1264677/Chelsea-veteran-goalkeeper-Hilario-set-summer-switch-Sporting-Lisbon.html#ixzz0kdgGCNcD

Ryan Giggs, Edwin van der Sar, Gio van Bronckhorst, Kevin Phillips, Paolo Maldini and Makelele are recent examples who disagree with you.

Of course there's major frustration, they've been kicked out of Europe and lost top spot in the league, hardly going to be all rosy in the United garden!

Borini's 'chances' have limited him to less than 200 minutes of football. You can barely judge him on that. Is everyone forgetting Sinclair as well? Reckon he'll be sold.

Though MALOUDA deserved it more tbh Changed the title He'll play shit now.

Aston Villa v Chelsea Aston Villa’s last FA Cup match at Wembley saw them lose 1-0 to Chelsea in the 2000 FA Cup final. This is only the Villans’ third FA Cup semi final appearance in 50 years since 1960. Martin O’Neill’s men have kept just one clean sheet in their last 14 FA Cup appearances. Villa have averaged three goals per game in the FA Cup this season competition this season. John Carew is the top scorer in the FA Cup this season with six goals, including five in his last two appearances. Chelsea have won their last six FA Cup matches at Wembley. The Pensioners have scored at least twice in their last 10 FA Cup games. Daniel Sturridge has hit four goals in just three appearances in the competition this season. The Blues have lost just one of their last 13 meetings with the Birmingham side in all competitions. However Aston Villa have won five of the eight FA Cup meetings between the sides, drawing once and losing twice.

How well United do should not be of any importance to us. If we go in with the mentality that United are going to win all five remaining games - which they might very well do - then it means we have to put the extra effort in. One slip up can cost us massively, and we simply cannot afford it.

Can see this being one of the toughest games of the season. I can see us being complacent (and why wouldn't we be?) after the 7-1 drubbing, whilst Villa will want to get their own back and have a point to prove - and what better stage to do so than in an FA Cup semi final? This is going to have to be a disciplined, defensive performance, á la the Mourinho days. 1-0 or 2-1.

Maybe United are now even more worried?

Only ones I can see making the grade so soon are Bruma, Cork, Stoch, Borini and Kakuta. The rest will get their chance, just not yet - I think these five have pure potential and are very exciting prospects we want to stay at the club. Other players, I feel, could do with a little more experience. For example, I think we should loan Bertrand to a lower Premier League team where he is likely to get a few games before he can make the final step up to the first team. We've got a lot of quality, but being realistic, those five are the only players I can see next season being included in the squad, plus di Santo, Mancienne and Sturridge of course. I don't think Carlo would think about trying to bring too many through at once.

The modern day footballer can realistically play till they're 36-40 nowadays, even at a high level.

We should strap bombs to their legs and unless they win every match, they lose their legs. Or am I going too far?

And that was a great decision, wasn't it Sir Alex?

"Thought they were bringing a sub on."

I was only suggesting how we could filter them all into the same team. And it would work for when we are chasing the game. That was my point. In my ideal team Zhirkov wouldn't even be on the pitch.