Aston Villa 0-3 Chelsea

[BlueLion. 21,491]

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.

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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