Chelsea’s challenge of making it three FA Cups in a row were demolished in dramatic fashion at Stamford Bridge yesterday after Everton equalised in last minute of extra-time, before beating us 4-3 on penalties.

Chelsea were not at their best throughout the game but looked to have booked their place in the next round after Frank Lampard scored in the dying stages of the first half of extra-time.

But then Leighton Baines once again came back to haunt us with his left foot, and this time it was from a free-kick from 25 yards which did the damage.

Carlo Ancelotti gave Didier Drogba the starting role in the absence of cup-tied Fernando Torres, with Salomon Kalou, John Obi Mikel and Paulo Ferreira also returning to the starting line-up for this one with David Luiz also ineligible.

Everton started with Jermaine Beckford, who scored the equaliser at the Bridge earlier this season, as the goal scorer from the first leg, Louis Saha, was still out injured. Tim Cahill, who has an impressive record against Chelsea, also started after missing the first match due to International duty.

Chelsea started the game slowly, which has kind of become a habit for the defending Champions, as Everton were on the mark, hustling and bustling from minute one.

Chelsea were hoping to get a reaction from the returning Didier Drogba, but his first half performance was overshadowed by a knock he took from Jagielka, as he spent most of the half trying to knock off that injury.

Everton had their tactics spot on, but also resorted to excessive fouling to break down play. Referee Phil Dowd allowed Everton to get away with it, but wasn’t afraid to book Chelsea players for similar offences.

Chelsea faithful were again given the chance to show their frustration for Down after Ramires was booked for simulation when he went down in the box from a Howard challenge. The decision could have gone either way, Howard went for it and didn’t get the ball, but did get some of Ramires.

The only problem here was that Ramires did what every player does these days; go down when there is contact, no matter what the extent of it is.

The first half never lit up and was short on quality. Chelsea were creating chances but never looked in control of the game, which always gave Everton a chance to hit back.

Carlo introduced Michael Essien in place of Obi Mikel for the second half, as we looked to get more bite in the middle of the park without having to sacrifice our attacking play.

Chelsea started with much more vigour than what we witnessed in the whole of first half, and showed encouraging signs as we camped Everton in their own half, threatening to take the game away from them.

Despite dominating the second half, the goal wasn’t to come for us, with Lampard’s chip over the bar representing the best chance for Carlo Ancelotti’s men, but were then given a mighty bad scare when Fellaini put the ball in the back of the net just before the full time whistle, but it was correctly ruled offside.

Inevitably it was extra-time for us, and Anelka was introduced to refresh things up and get that elusive goal so that penalties could be avoided, a thing which every Chelsea fan dreaded and considering our record in it, who could blame them.

Nicolas Anelka did the trick for Carlo Ancelotti as well, as he was the one who did the good work on the right to provide ball for the goal. Nico’s cross was chested down by Drogba for Lampard, who didn’t miss from five yards out.

With things going as they are, most of the Chelsea fans would have loved to have the Golden goal rule still in place, but it’s not, and we had another half to get through.

And as it turns out, the fears of Chelsea fans were well founded as Leighton Baines came back to lay more pain, but this time he didn’t need anyone else to put finishing touches to his good work, he did it himself, after he put the ball back into the back of the net from a free-kick to break the heart of all Chelsea fans and sent the visiting Merseysiders into ecstasy.

Chelsea then continued their atrocious penalty record and despite Leighton Baines missing the first Everton kick, we still came out on the losing end with Nicolas Anelka and Ashley Cole being the unfortunate ones to miss their penalties.

Based on the 90 minutes played, we deserved the win, even if you include the next 30 we still shade it, but credit to Everton for staying in it and never giving up. It’s a theme that we have been continuing from the past few games; we play well, but can’t kill of teams.

However, the point is that we never look in control of the games so even if we score we are not sure if that’s enough. With big games coming up, especially in Europe, our only chance of silverware now, this kind of frailty could really come back to haunt us.

Carlo Ancelotti insisted that best penalty takers were chosen, and was adamant that the team will be recover ahead of the Champions League tie that was coming up, he said; “Obviously, we are not happy but we have to look forward, to use these days, the next days, to recover well, to recover energy and to prepare well (for) the next game in the Champions League.”

“I think that we have the time. It will not be easy but we have the time.” Carlo added; “We had very good shooters from the penalty. Lampard, (Didier) Drogba, Anelka, Essien and Ashley Cole: they were the best.”

“Obviously, penalties are a lottery and sometimes you can win and sometimes you can lose.”

Chelsea (4-4-2): Cech, Ferreira, Ivanovic, Terry (c), Cole, Ramires, Lampard, Mikel (Essien h-t), Malouda (Anelka 90), Kalou (Zhirkov 110), Drogba.

Goal Lampard 103.

Chelsea had to come from behind to earn a replay in the 4th round of the FA Cup against Everton. Louis Saha gave Everton the lead early in the second half, but a Saloman Kalou goal fifteen minutes from time gave the FA Cup holders a draw, despite not being at their best.

Carlo Ancelotti picked a full-strength starting line-up, some of this being owed to the fact that we are ten points behind Utd in the League, and rest to the strength of the opposition.

Frank Lampard was the only change from the 4-0 win at Bolton, Mikel returning to the bench for this one. With Gael Kakuta and Patrick van Aanholt moving on loans, there was place for young Jacopo Sala on the bench.

Everton were still missing their top-scorer, Tim Cahill, who is away on International duty with Australia in the Asian Cup, but other than that David Moyes had a full-strength side to choose from.

It was a chilly day in Merseyside, but the bright sunshine made it a wonderful setting for football between the 2009 FA Cup finalists, although this was a very different game from the game which took place two years ago.

Everton started the game in a buoyant mood putting Chelsea under lot of pressure and thereby starving the players of time on the ball, leading to strayed passes.

The first half was a tight one with both teams failing to any create clear-cut chances. Still, each side had their opportunities to take the lead.

Nicolas Anelka had the chance for Chelsea, after being released by Ramires, but his shot was hit straight at Tim Howard.

On the other hand, Jack Rodwell had the best chance for Everton, after Essien lost possession of the ball in the middle of the park to Marouane Fellaini, allowing Saha to slide through to the young Englishmen, but his shot was well saved by the impressive Petr Cech.

Both teams went into the half time on level terms, with Everton being the better of the two teams after having dominated the possession. The problem for Chelsea was that they were being outshone in the middle of the park with only Ramires being performing to the levels expected.

The second half began in a similar way, with the match still waiting for some brilliance from either side to bring some life into the game, although this didn’t stop the travelling supporters, who were in full voice, from reminding everyone of our reported interest in a certain Merseyside striker.

Everton were in the lead soon though, Louis Saha heading in home from a Leighton Baines corner, the former Utd and Fulham man continuing his impressive scoring record against the Blues, his seventh goal in eight games now.

With things not going our way, Carlo Ancelotti decided to bring on Salomon Kalou in place of Florent Malouda, and it proved to be an inspired substitution as he scored within minutes of coming on. It was a quick break from an Everton corner; Anelka getting the ball on the left touchline with Ramires and Kalou making the forward runs, he found the Ivorian, who made no mistake in putting the ball into the back of the net.

It was an undeserved equaliser, but was nothing less than what we wanted, as it gave us another lease of life.

There were few chances after this, with Ramires going the closest with his fierce drive from 25yards which hit the bottom of the post with Howard beaten.

The game now moves on to Stamford Bridge for the replay on the 19th of February with Carlo Ancelotti definitely the happier of the two managers, and also maintaining the possibility that we could still win the FA Cup for the third consecutive time and for the fourth time in five years. With hopefully a signing or two to come before the end of the transfer window it could only get better.

Petr Cech and Ramires stood out for Chelsea in what was a rather dull display from us. Salomon Kalou, who often gets criticized very heavily from the Blues faithful, deserves credit for rescuing us a point in what looked like a lost cause ever since Everton took the lead.

Carlo Ancelotti admitted his side were second best on the day, but was understandably satisfied with the result, he said; “Everton put us under pressure and played good football and created chances to score, so the result is good. It was not a good game but in general it was a good performance.”

The manager added; “Everton have a special kind of football, play a lot of long balls and they like to fight in the box on set-pieces. But we showed a good attitude and spirit even though we did not play well.”

“We have to look forward now as we have very important games in the future.”

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry (c), Cole, Essien, Ramires, Lampard (Mikel 84), Anelka, Drogba, Malouda (Kalou 69).

Goal: Kalou 74

We wanted John Terry back, we got it; we wanted Michael Essien back, we got it. Yet sadly the thing that we wanted the most, three points, eluded us on a day when a win would have taken us to the top of the league.

Everton hadn’t beaten us at Stamford Bridge for 16 years, but this didn’t highlight the fact that we haven’t got three points against them on the past five occasions, and sadly this was the case again as Jermaine Beckford’s late equaliser left us winless in 4, a run which has seen us collect only 2 points out of possible 12.

Chelsea welcomed back Terry and Essien to their starting line-up, but Lampard missed out again, as Carlo Ancelotti made two changes, with Alex out with injury and Ramires dropping to the bench.

We had been guilty of slow starts in the past which gave the opposition early momentum, thereby making it difficult for us, but we started brightly today and looked up to the task, although still missing that early season swagger.

Chelsea dominated the possession early on, but failed to create any clear cut chances, with John Terry going the closest after his strike hit the bar. Everton were holding their own even with the lack of possession.

However, this was soon to change when the experience Phil Neville, who was booked for tackle from behind on Malouda earlier, played in a loose back pass which allowed Nicolas Anelka to get in. The Frenchmen was one-on-one with Tim Howard and was brought down.

A penalty was given but Howard wasn’t sent-off. Drogba stepped up and scored his first goal since scoring against Arsenal.

Chelsea went into the half-time with a one goal lead and feeling confident. It was also a half in which John Terry showed what we were missing when he was out with his brilliant performance.

The second-half begin with Chelsea expected to press on and close the game out; instead we decided to sit back and invited pressure from the Blue boys from Merseyside. It was typical of the team which had just one win in previous five league games.

Everton started to have more of the possession as the game went on, with Baines causing trouble with his play on the left. First, Rodwell went close when his header hit the post, with Cech beaten. Then, Coleman hit his header straight down Cech’s throat on the back post.

The Big Czech goalkeeper then had a scare when Cahill left his foot while going for the ball. His stud caught Cech above his left eye, but luckily he wasn’t hurt. However, the Australian wasn’t punished for his dangerous play.
Chelsea then tried to have more control of the game and brought on Ferreira for Bosingwa, possibly to shore up the left hand side where Baines was causing all sorts of trouble, and Ramires in place of Anelka.

We made a little effort to get the second and decisive goal, when it was apparent that one isn’t going to be enough today and then Cole could have had it in the bag but he missed his chance under pressure from Coleman, after nice work from Essien and Ferreira created the opening. But in the end it would prove to be false dawn.

Everton were rewarded for their efforts in the second-half when a cross from the left by Baines found Cahill in the box and he nodded it down to Beckford to head it home. With this, the former Chelsea trainee laid a hammer blow on Chelsea’s confidence and earned Everton their sixth draw in as many games at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea were made to pay for stepping off the gas in the second-half and now sit in third place, behind Manchester United, who have a game in hand, and Arsenal. Still the boos coming in from Stamford Bridge at the end were totally uncalled for.

The Blues face all their title rivals in the coming games and have a chance to reclaim lost ground. Frank Lampard is expected to be restored to the starting line-up soon and Drogba, who is still recovering from Malaria, will only get better with time.

Carlo Ancelotti was also left disappointed with his team’s second half performance, he added; “It was not good. We didn’t win, we weren’t able to play our football. The first half was good, we went 1-0 up, but the second half was poor. We didn’t play our football we just played long ball and that isn’t our aim.”

“Sometimes we control the game but we have to make sure we don’t lose our way. We have to play always to the best level. It is difficult to understand why this happened in the second half, but it did and we have to try and find out why.”

Chelsea (4-3-3):Cech; Bosingwa (Ferreira 64), Ivanovic, Terry (c), Cole; Essien, Mikel (Sturridge 87), Malouda; Kalou, Drogba, Anelka (Ramires 77).
Scorers Drogba (pen) 41

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So the blip continues with two dropped points at home to Everton this afternoon.

We’d had the lead courtesy of a Drogba penalty, as well as dominating the first half, however the second half was another story, with Everton rampant and Chelsea on the back foot.

Despite the setback, who did you think performed the best in a blue shirt?

You voted the man of the match for Everton as John Terry. Thanks for voting.

VOTING NOW CLOSED

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With the snow now finally retreating and normality returning to the southern part of England, Chelsea take on a slippery situation of their own as Everton roll up to Stamford Bridge.

John Terry returns at the centre of defence just as Alex undertakes surgery that will see him out for around six-eight weeks, as does Michael Essien after missing three matches due to suspension. Lampard is still not yet ready to return.

Didier Drogba should lead the line with Kalou and Anelka, with Florent Malouda expected to remain in the mid-field with Mikel and Essien as Zhirkov is still not yet match fit.

In Friday’s press conference, Ancelotti spoke of Terry, saying; “John Terry is able to play, he trained well all this week, completely, and didn’t have a problem. He was in good condition and tomorrow will start.”

The Italian reported; “He trained without problem this week, I think the problem has gone. Maybe for the next game he will be 100 per cent because he has trained just three days but in the games he can improve his condition and it is not so important that he has to be 100 per cent.”

Ancelotti added; “Terry is important for other things. He has good control of the defensive line, he can speak and support the other players and can show character also.

Speaking of Essien’s return, Carlo noted; “‘Michael Essien like John Terry brings personality, brings character, bring qualities on the pitch, without Lampard we have difficulty in scoring goals from midfield. Essien was able to score and also for this reason it could be important to have him against Everton.”

With Essien about to make his 200th appearance for the club, the Ghanaian stated; “I am very happy in England, very happy in London and very happy playing for this club, I am so lucky to play for Chelsea, I couldn’t ask for more. I am at one of the biggest clubs in the world and I’m really enjoying my football.”

On his future with the club he said; “I hope there will be another 200 games. I have no plans to leave Chelsea, I owe this club a lot and I want to pay Chelsea and the fans back with my performances. I hope I can help the team win more trophies. If the chance comes to finish my career here I will take it but in football you never know, we will see what happens.”

Looking at the challenge Everton with bring, Ancelotti reflected on the importance of the match; “We’ve lost top of the table, didn’t score a lot of goals but now the most important thing is that we want to close this period. We have to close this period with a victory. It is not so important to stay top now, it is important at the end of the season, and we must focus on this game.!

“I put pressure on my players for this game. I want to see everything we can do, character, personality, good play, because I think it is one of the most important games for us in the season.”

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Chelsea’s lead at the top of the table is a solitary point after the Blues crashed to a 2-1 defeat against Everton at Goodison Park.

Manchester United’s draw with Aston Villa ensures that things remain very tight at the top as we enter the final third of the season.

Yuri Zhirkov replaced Michael Ballack in the only change from the side that beat Arsenal and it took just sixteen minutes for the visiting side to take the lead.

It was a display of route one football as Petr Cech launched a long free kick forward, finding the head of Didier Drogba. His flick was into the path of Florent Malouda, who held off Phil Neville before firing home first time past Tim Howard.

Predictably, the Everton equaliser came from a set piece. Loan singing Landon Donovan took a corner from the right that was brilliantly headed in by Louis Saha, who’d escaped the attentions of John Terry.

Donovan was involved again, winning a penalty after a careless challenge from Ricardo Carvalho. Saha stepped up and though his spot kick was hit firmly, it was a nice height for Cech who moved to his left to make a decent save.

Everton went ahead in the second half, again through Saha. Terry misjudged a long ball, allowing Saha to control with his chest before lashing a left footed finish past Cech and into the far corner.

Chelsea looked to hit back, but Drogba and Frank Lampard were both denied, the former by the woodwork and the latter by Howard in goals. An intriguing midweek of football once more leaves the Premier League race wide open.

For the second midweek running Chelsea are away from home, this time at Goodison Park. Chelsea are atop the Premier League with a two point gap over Manchester United, whilst Everton are currently exactly mid table.

Chelsea are coming off a resounding 2-0 win against Arsenal on the weekend, whilst Everton were defeated in the Merseyside derby 1-0 by Liverpool.

The Blues have no fresh problems heading into this match, but Everton will be missing Marouane Fellaini through injury and Steven Pienaar through suspension. Happily, Phillippe Senderos is available for Everton having moved on loan from Arsenal. Didier Drogba will be pleased.

Chelsea haven’t lost to Everton in 24 matches. The last time Everton beat Chelsea was in 2000, a 2-1 win at Goodison Park, the winner scored by Kevin Campbell. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was sent off.

In the match at Goodison Park last season these two sides played out a 0-0 draw. Scolari’s side had John Terry sent off in a match that saw Tim Cahill played as a long striker by David Moyes.

In the reverse fixture this season, the two sides played out a topsy turvy 3-3 draw. All of Everton’s goals came from set pieces, though they had more than their fair share of luck. Drogba scored twice and Nicolas Anelka once in that match.

Ladbrokes and William Hill have posted identical odds for this match, with Everton 4/1 long shots. Chelsea are strong favourites at 8/11, whilst the draw is paying a reasonably enticing 5/2.