A couple of weeks ago, I sent an email (In fact, all-in-all, I sent four emails) to the Football Association with regard to our FA Cup Semi-Final. I was annoyed at the fact that without common sense prevailing, Chelsea had been given Sunday April 15 as the date for our FA Cup Semi-Final against Tottenham Hotspur.

As a background to my original email, which was written prior to our Champions League Quarter-Final first leg game against Benfica, I pointed out that should Chelsea qualify against the Portuguese team, which we did, the club would only get a couple of days to rest and recuperate before playing in a huge match against the possible winners of Milan versus Barcelona in their Quarter Final of the same competition.

I also pointed out in the email that other football federations i.e. Italy, Portugal and Spain looked after their domestic clubs when it came to vital Champions League games. For instance, when Chelsea played Napoli in both legs of the last sixteen of the competition, the Italians were allowed to play their domestic games on a Friday evening and when we played Benfica, they were able to play on the Friday evening before we travelled to Lisbon.

In the email, I alluded to the fact that if the FA wanted English clubs to succeed in Europe they should be more flexible and I asked them to consider Chelsea playing on the Friday evening, rather than the Sunday.

Without me being connected in any way to Chelsea Football Club, apart from a supporter, later in press conferences, all of these points were pretty much backed up by the club in some way or another, which lead me to think that if our FA were going to be flexible, then they would take more notice of the club, than of me.

A few days later after sending my original email, I received a reply:

Dear Mr …

Thank you for contacting The Football Association.

The FA has confirmed the dates for the semi-finals, with Liverpool playing on Saturday and Chelsea on Sunday. All of these dates have been agreed with clubs, who are happy with the format for the weekend of the semi-finals.

The FA believes it is important to respect the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster and is happy with its decision in relation to this weekend.

Kind regards

Alex Burkwood
Customer Relations Officer Customer Relations

Personally, I felt that this didn’t answer the criteria of my original email, it actually made me quite angry and annoyed that as a customer, my original questions had not been answered. Personally, I could have answered that myself, it was total drivel and a load of rubbish. So I replied and asked for the matter to be taken to a higher authority.

I also suggested that I hoped that nobody purchased any merchandise whilst at Wembley and that England do extremely poorly in the European Championships, thus making the FA as little money as possible. (By that point I was very angry!)

For quite a few days I heard nothing, so I wrote again asking if they were ignoring me. Then on April 2, I received my final email from the Football Association, I also got a duplicate from a Tracey Bates too.

Dear Mr …

Thank you for contacting The Football Association.

The FA Cup Semi Final dates have been scheduled to take place on these dates for more than a year and have been fixed and agreed with all stakeholders. The confirmation of kick-off times followed detailed and lengthy discussions, which have involved all the relevant stakeholders, broadcasters and the Metropolitan police. In addition, when considering the scheduling of fixtures, The FA must consider the impact on fairness to all clubs who have equally important fixtures at this congested time of the season.

I realise that the above may not ease your frustrations. However we do appreciate all of the feedback we receive from supporters. This feedback is collated and used to build a picture of public opinion and is subsequently fed back internally within the organisation. Please rest assured your comments will form part of this feedback process.

Thank you again for contacting us.

Kind regards

Gary Stonehouse | Customer Relations
Communications Division

Well, that answer was absolutely bonkers. Take this line for instance – “In addition, when considering the scheduling of fixtures, The FA must consider the impact on fairness to all clubs who have equally important fixtures at this congested time of the season.”

WHAT? What other team in the FA Cup has congested fixtures? Are Liverpool, Everton and Tottenham in the Champions League Semi-Finals masquerading as Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich? What other competitions are they in apart from the FA competitions? (FA Cup and Premier League) had this been another English club and I’m thinking, Manchester United, would the FA have accommodated them?

In my opinion these emails from the Football Association show how blind they are to the reality of football. Our club have players who will be playing at 6pm on Sunday, 7.45pm on Wednesday against Barcelona, 12.45pm on April 21 versus Arsenal and then they travel to Barcelona for a game at 7.45pm on April 24.

What other clubs in the FA Cup have such congested fixtures, yet the Football Association states that they must consider ALL clubs. I also believe that the players could be risking their own health by playing these fixtures crammed together, should it not be the responsibility of the Football Association to make sure that these fixtures are spread out so that players have time to rest and recuperate between fixtures?

In most people’s jobs a key word is flexibility, I see no flexibility whatsoever in this scenario. Flexibility here should have meant that our national federation, the FA, being flexible and helping the only ENGLISH team left in Europe by, in my opinion, saying that they could play this coming Friday evening, or arranging a time much more suitable than at 6pm on Sunday evening.

In 2002 we also had problems with the blinkered Football Association when, as venue of choice, they chose Villa Park for our FA Cup Semi-Final against Fulham. It meant that fans of both London clubs had to travel to the Midlands when a far easier choice of venue would have been in London.

The Football Association are the most laughable organisation in world football, whose aim for their customers and more notably, in this instance, Chelsea Football Club, is to stick their heads in the sand and do sweet FA.

It’s unspoken but it’s there, isn’t it?

We are all thinking it, aren’t we? Come on, admit it.

The win against the red half of Manchester, the stuttering return to team form, the increasing impact of Frank Lampard, the revelation that is David Luiz…

Yuri back, Yossi getting closer. I could go on but I won’t…

It all starts to point to one thing doesn’t it?

But wait a minute. Don’t say it. As soon as you say it out loud, as soon as those words are spoken, that’s when it all falls apart. So say nothing.

Do you remember last season? Of course you do but let’s have another look.

There we were, coming to the run in, having played (let’s be honest) not very well. Okay, crap then.

We had just lost at home 0-1 to you know who in the Champions League, then we had a difficult away trip to Blackburn. We needed to win.

Drogba’s early goal was a wasted opportunity. To quote Carlo, in the second half “we lost composure and conceded a goal”.

Under normal circumstances a draw would have been an okay result, but Man U and Arsenal both won. It wasn’t good enough.

Then it happened, remember? Five straight wins, the first two (for me at least) wholly unexpected. A 5-0 at Portsmouth, a 7-1 over Villa.

It wasn’t just the victory, but the manner of it: quite phenomenal. Then came THAT victory, with THAT goal: 2-1 at Old Trafford, and we were back in the driving seat.

We couldn’t afford to slip up though, to be fair to them United were playing pretty well.

So there it was: win all our remaining games and the title was ours!

Easy, then. A doddle. Those games involved away trips to a vengeful Villa, Spurs and Liverpool, together with none-too-easy games against the likes of Bolton, Stoke, Wigan. Simples.

A couple more wins, then the worse happened. We had points to spare but a crap performance – at White Hart Lane of all places – and we had to win all our remaining games to stay in pole position.

As it turned out, there was no repeat of that sub-moronic performance. Lessons had obviously been learned.

The game at Anfield was duly disposed of, all the points heading back to the Bridge. The other teams were consummately beaten, with a style and flourish befitting proper Champions.

The title put the FA Cup in the shade a bit: but we still went out and won it, just for good measure.

We didn’t need to be double winners, to be crowned champions was a fabulous enough end to the season. But we did it anyway. Double Winners.

Double Winners. I like repeating it. Doesn’t happen very often does it? Winners of ‘The Double’. Aaaah.

Oh, but I digress…

I suppose it really is too much to hope that we have a repeat. United are too far ahead, so even we did repeat those sort of performances, we would only manage a second place finish.

Unless of course, Man U started to feel the pressure. Today’s defeat to Liverpool at Anfield could be pivotal. Let’s see what sort of reaction now comes from Old Trafford.

Will they grow stronger in adversity, as Chelsea have done over the past few weeks? Or will the cracks start to turn into chasms? Will confidence, eroded by recent defeats, finally crumble into the turbid sea of lost chances?

Who knows? Maybe a repeat is possi…. sorry, I’m not going to say it out loud.

And don’t you either. Read it silently to yourself. But you know what I mean. The signs are there.

Nando looks like he’s settling in. Didier terrorising Man U and keeping them in his pocket for the last five minutes of Tuesday’s game, keeping them down by their own corner flag virtually on his own. The ever adapting Ramires…

Bosingwa returning to some sort of form. Nico finding a new position (as against Sunderland). Branners continuing his awesomeness.

But let’s maintain a dignified silence and see how things work out. It may be the run-in, but it’s still early days. And dare I say it, it’s a funny old game, football. Dare I say that stranger things have happened…

But say nothing. Yet.

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.

Well, it’s been a reasonably pleasant season thus far. Now the “difficult moment” is behind us, it looked like we were about to make progress on all fronts.

However, events of the last 7 days, some of which were beyond our control, have unleashed a near perfect storm of fixture congestion, one might even refer to them as The Four Horsemen of the Fixture List Apocalypse.

Weather

Whilst the decision to postpone the Manchester United game was a sound one, the inability of the clubs to put their foot down with Sky has led to the match being pencilled in at 1st March. I say “pencilled in”, because the replay with Everton is going to have a serious knock-on effect.

Replays

It simply wasn’t going to be possible to replay the Everton game prior to 19th February (5th round day) due to the full Premier League fixture played this week. In an ideal world we would have played it next week. Or so you’d think.

The answer to this question is, well, no. England are playing Denmark in a Friendly in Copenhagen on 9th February in an officially designated pointless international friendly week. So no cup replays next week either. This means that in the event of our beating Everton, we will have to play the 5th round game with Reading on Tuesday 1st March. Causing the Manchester United game to be postponed. Again (see also TV).

Ironically, we now find ourselves with a free date on 26th February, courtesy of Birmingham reaching the Carling Cup Final. It’s possible that Reading might agree to postpone their Championship game that weekend in exchange for the sizeable gate receipts from a full house at the Bridge on a Saturday afternoon, and again, it will require some seriously hard graft from the ticket office to ticket the match in the space of less than a week (and those of us on our way to Copenhagen sans laptops relying on our Friends & Family).

Europe

The dates of our CL games with Copenhagen have also had a profound effect on the fixture list. This has taken up two potential midweek dates. If we had been scheduled to play on the CL on 15/16th February, we could have played the potential 5th round FA cup game on 22nd/23rd February (subject to the ticket office getting its collective finger out) , thus giving with plenty of time to ticket a potential 6th Round match on 12th/13th March.

And at this point, enter the old enemy.

TV

If Sky had been willing to show Fulham –v- Chelsea on a Saturday or Sunday, the cup replay could have been played on 15th/16th February. Somehow you just can’t see Sky agreeing to free up that Monday.

Also, Sky will be clapping their hands with glee, because instead of Chelsea –v- Man Utd being a midweek game at the start of March, it is now likely to take place at the business end of the season, probably in May around the same time we play the away league match, when they can hype it to their heart’s content.

Still, these are circumstances which wouldn’t have arisen if we hadn’t played so poorly in the second half on Saturday. And as David Gray says, “drop a pebble in the water…”

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

Twenty or so years ago a former workmate would often wind me up about Chelsea, unfortunately, for him, he supported Tottenham.

The best part for me about supporting Chelsea at that time was that we had such a great record against Spurs and as we know, this lasted for a lengthy period.

The tough thing about supporting Chelsea back then was that we were very inconsistent. In fact, I’d tell this particular work mate that the most consistent thing about Chelsea was our inconsistency.

Moving forward twenty years I don’t think that any Chelsea fan from my own era of supporting Chelsea, which happens to be the mid 70’s, would have been able to comprehend that to present day in 2011 we have won three league titles, five FA Cup’s a European Cup Winners’ Cup and three League Cups, not forgetting the Charity/Community Shields as well.

Personally I think that if someone had told me twenty years ago about our current trophy haul, I would have thought that they were a bit cuckoo. Sometimes a bit of history is always required, especially when it does come to Chelsea, because as supporters we all know that we do have a great and proud history.

So, after my own short history lesson I bring you back to present day Chelsea. The last three months have been turbulent compared to the Chelsea since Roman Abramovich took over. Our results and performances have dipped and from being a side that were looking like back-to-back title winners again, our form has dipped and we are now ten points behind Manchester United.

The result against Bolton on Monday night has helped kick-start our season again, but are we becoming a Chelsea of the 1990’s, a team where our most consistent thing is going to be our inconsistency again? The win at Bolton was great, don’t get me wrong, but did Bolton really put up a fight? I believe our season starts now against Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday.

Can Carlo really go through a season of not winning a trophy of any kind? For people that know me, the FA Cup is always a trophy that I want us to win and to win it three years in a row would be something that no club has achieved in about 150 years. Three FA Cup wins in a row would be a huge achievement and an ultimate compliment to our club.

Yes, the Bolton win was great, but with Blackpool losing 2-3 to Manchester United after being 2-0 up it has dented our own title challenge, if ever there was one to challenge for anyway.

So Everton on Saturday is massive and with FC Copenhagen on the horizon in the Champions League there is still a lot to play for, so if we can dispel my ever increasing worry of us becoming consistent about our inconsistency then I will be extremely happy.

Can Carlo change his team for Saturday? Well, if Frank is fit I would play him, but at the cost of who? Michael Essien has been out of form recently, so would he be the man to make way, or would it be Ramires? After reading some articles, it seems that Frank still has his calf injury however.

So, whatever the team on Saturday, I’ll personally be as nervous as I always have been regarding our club, but maybe my nerves will be on edge ever so slightly more than normal.

Chelsea, please prove to me that we are not inconsistent, go to Goodison Park, win and take us to the Fifth Round.

COME ON THE CHELS!

Well, I think we can all agree that that was needed.

As Chelsea embarked on another FA Cup campaign, seeking to become the first side in 125 years to win three on the trot, the feeling around the club could have been better.

Another defeat in midweek against Wolves followed by ‘Bannergate’ brought more doom-mongering to the club’s doorstep, something which received only a brief respite when Ipswich sacked manager Roy Keane on the eve of the tie.

So, a 7-0 win proved to be just the tonic to blow away some of the bad feeling and instill a little bit of optimism for the games and weeks ahead.

A brace apiece from Frank Lampard and Daniel Sturridge led the way, with Nicolas Anelka and Salomon Kalou each grabbing one, and Carlos Edwards’ unfortunate own goal the other name on the scoresheet.

Carlo Ancelotti made four changes from the debacle at Molineux, with Patrick van Aanholt, Josh McEachran, Anelka and Sturridge replacing Ashley Cole, Michael Essien, Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba respectively.

All except Cole took their places on the bench, but each apart from Malouda had suffered knocks in the build-up to the match, and so were afforded the chance to recuperate.

Ipswich – under the caretaker stewardship of Ian McParland – suffered from the loss of players to injury and loan ineligibility and so were forced to shuffle their pack, handing a start to highly rated teenage striker Connor Wickham.

To their credit, they started well, and gave a travelling contingent of 3,000 reason to believe an upset was on the cards. They battled well, competed in every phase of play and tested Petr Cech in the home goal with an effort from Jason Scotland which swerved wildly in the air, requiring a top save from the Czech.

Chelsea’s number one was to be involved in a nasty collision with Wickham midway through the first half which left him in some discomfort, but he was able to recover and play on, much to the delight of a worried Stamford Bridge faithful.

After half-chances had fallen to Sturridge (on a number of occasions) and McEachran, and after Anelka had seen his goal-bound effort cleared by former Fulham scholar Troy Brown, the breakthrough arrived shortly after the half-hour mark.

Anelka was keenly involved again, as he picked up the ball on the edge of the area before shooting. Fulop was able to make the save but as the ball rolled towards the back of the net, Kalou made sure from no more than an inch away.

Before the supporters had time to catch their breath, the lead had been doubled. A swift flowing move saw Josw Bosingwa deliver a cross from the right, which was delicately flicked in at the near post by Sturridge.

The 21 year-old has made something of a habit of scoring in the FA Cup and after grabbing five goals in a midweek friendly against Tottenham, he once again displayed the knack he clearly has for finding the back of the net.

A third goal would arrive shortly before the break, as Lampard delivered a free-kick into a dangerous area, and Carlos Edwards flicked it beyond his own goalkeeper to compound Ipswich’s problems further.

For the hosts, however, the prospect of a pressure-free second half with the opportunity to play with confidence must have been an appealing one, and with a team full of energy and verve, they wasted no time after the restart.

Again it was Anelka involved, playing much higher up the pitch, and he added his name to the list of goalscorers after a quick one-two with Kalou before confidently dispatching the ball into the far corner from a tight angle.

Minutes later, the rout was well and truly on as Sturridge grabbed his second of the afternoon. Receiving the ball in space to the left side of the penalty spot, he took a touch to set himself before curling a beauty with his right foot into Fulop’s top corner.

The Hungarian stopper had conceded seven on his last visit here for Sunderland during the 2009-10 season and was faring little better this time around.

Taking their foot off the gas with the game firmly in the bag, Gael Kakuta entered the match in relief of Kalou, whilst Jeffrey Bruma replaced compatriot van Aanholt, who suffered an injury.

Even at a gear or two below their best, you sensed Chelsea still had the capacity to score at will, and in the closing stages added considerable gloss to the scoreline.

Kakuta’s corner was poor, but the near-post clearance was poorer, finding Lampard on the edge of the area. He was afforded time and space to get a shot off, and Fulop was rooted to the spot as the ball crashed into the back of the net.

For the second time in the match, the Blues would grab two goals in the space of a minute, as Lampard doubled his official tally for the day. Neat approach work involving Kakuta and McEachran released Ivanovic inside the box, and he squared for the easy finish from close range.

Kakuta might well have made it eight, but he was denied a first career goal by a rare save from Fulop.

Instead, Chelsea settled for seven, the sixth such time they have scored at least that number in the last twelve months. Perspective must be kept with regards to the opponent and the circumstances, but there were many positives to take from the match.

Subtle team changes allowed fresher, perhaps more confident players to come into the side and it manifested itself in a display which was of high tempo, tenacity and creativity.

Anelka looked much more effective playing further up the pitch, often in the middle, whilst Sturridge once again showed he is at his most effective inside the box and not stuck out on the wings.

Ramires had another very industrious and effective game in the middle of the park as he grows into quite the contributor, and both McEachran and van Aanholt can be pleased with positive displays as well.

The Fourth Round draw brings a trip to Everton. Que sera sera….?

Chelsea: Cech; Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry (c), van Aanholt (Bruma 70); McEachran, Ramires, Lampard; Kalou (Kakuta 55), Anelka, Sturridge
Subs Not Used: Hilário, Drogba, Essien, Malouda, Ferreira

Goals: Kalou 32, Sturridge 33, 52, Edwards 41 og, Anelka 49, Lampard 78, 79

Chelsea face Ipswich Town at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup today, hoping a change of competition may enact a change of form and luck.

The FA Cup has been good for us in the last two decades, the pain of 1994 aside, and this season we set to the task of retaining the FA Cup for a second year, to make it three wins in three.

The team new is still unclear, however with so many players being ran into the ground, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see some of the younger players get their chance.

Cole needs a break, so Van Aanholt should start, Bruma may line up in the centre of defence and Sturridge could also start following his five goals in mid-week. Another who could play, is Josh McEachran.

The young Englishman spoke of the FA Cup and said; “We’re playing Ipswich on Sunday so hopefully some of us might be involved and we can put a good performance in and go on and win the competition again. I’ve been to the new Wembley a couple of times and it looks brilliant to play at, so if we did reach the final this year I would love to be involved.”

Reflecting on his own cup win last season, he recalled; “Winning the FA Youth Cup was a massive thing, Chelsea hadn’t done it for so long so it was huge for the club and everyone in the Academy as well. I was aware of the history of the competition, it was on Chelsea TV and the coaches were telling us it had been 50 years since Chelsea had won it so it was a great feeling.”

“Making your first-team debut is what everyone dreams of so that was probably a bigger high,” said McEachran. “It is a lot quicker in the Premier League, you have to make your mind up quicker than in the reserves. You don’t realise the crowd is there because you are very focused, but you hear them when you’ve given the ball away!”

Blowing away the cobwebs of Jose’s ‘untouchables’, Carlo Ancelotti stated on Friday; “There are no untouchable players. Drogba was out against Tottenham; Anelka has been out. We have the opportunity to change something up front; it is more difficult to change something defensively but there are no untouchable players. If we feel they deserve to play, they play.”

“There are some players that in this moment can use their character and experience to help the others to move on.” He adds; “I don’t want to do a table of the most important players at this club but obviously the players who have experience are more important compared to the others.”

Responding to media speculation regarding his future, the manager stated; “You have to face reality; the reality is that there is a long period that we didn’t have a good result. I don’t know how many managers were able to manage this club with these results; this means the owner supports my job. I feel this because I speak with him.”

“Roman never asked me to win. He asked me that his team play exciting football, this is our aim. I know we have the ability, the skill to win, like we did last year. To move on we must stay focused on the pitch. We have to close our minds, work on the pitch and try. If we are not able to find the right solution, try again. I will follow this way for the future.”

Chelsea sealed their first league and cup double with a 1-0 win in the FA Cup Final against Portsmouth, at Wembley Stadium.

After hitting the woodwork five (yes, five!) times in the first half, Chelsea looked like they would pay when Portsmouth were awarded a penalty, but Petr Cech’s penalty save closely followed by Didier Drogba’s free kick, saw Chelsea close out a deserved victory.

Chelsea were unchanged from the side that thrashed Wigan Athletic 8-0, meaning that Branislav Ivanovic and John Terry were both passed fit. Portsmouth lost Hassan Yebda on match morning, so he was replaced by Papa Bouba Diop, whilst Hayden Mullins took the place of the injured Marc Wilson. Jamie O’Hara was also fit to start.

Portsmouth had been given early warning by Frank Lampard who fired wide from the edge of the box, before the frame of the goal was rattled for the first time by the Chelsea number 8, whose thirty yard effort swerved into the far upright.

Nicolas Anelka forced a save from David James, before Cech made one of the saves of the season, reacting like lightning to turn away Frederic Piquionne’s touch from three yards out. It was an unbelievably good save.

Salomon Kalou hit the bar from five yards after being set up by Ashley Cole before Terry’s towering header also came back off the bar from a Florent Malouda free kick. There was still time for Drogba to hit the bar twice, once with a swerving 35 yard free kick that took a touch from James and landed on the line, and the next with a poke under the body of the Pompey keeper, after Aaron Mokoena and Steve Finnan made a hash of clearing.

Juliano Belletti replaced the injured Michael Ballack late on in the first half, but gave away a penalty early in the second. Kevin-Prince Boateng stepped up and went low down the middle, but Cech, having committed to his right, reacted quickly enough to save with his feet. It was turning into a vintage cup final performance from the man in yellow.

Within two minutes, the Blues were finally in front. Drogba took charge of the free kick, whipping it around the wall and past James, via the post. At last, the woodwork was kind to Chelsea! The King of Wembley had struck again.

Lampard won a penalty of his own in the dying moments, but uncharacteristically dragged it wide. Daniel Sturridge, so impressive in the cup campaign, made an appearance in injury time, as Chelsea closed out the win.

Drogba’s goal was his 37th of the season and his third in cup finals at Wembley, whilst Cech became just the third keeper to save a penalty in the showpiece event.

Make mine a Double!

In just a few hours Chelsea have the chance to write their names into an elite group of clubs who’ve won the ‘double’ in England.

Avram Grant’s Portsmouth team, relegated from the Premier League this season, and riddled with all manor of financial problems, stand in our way.

With Chelsea coming off the back of a record 8-0 thrashing of Wigan last week, confidence will surely be at a premium, and that could be our downfall if we’re not 100% focused on the match, and nothing is assumed.

Porstmouth are currently a very wounded animal, will have many players looking to fashion an exit from the club, who may play above themselves in rising to the big occasion.

Chelsea should have enough to take Portsmouth comfortably, but for that to happen, Malouda, Lampard, Drogba and Anelka will need to get about the Pompey back line quickly, harrying them in possession and and not leaving them any time on the ball.

An early goal for Chelsea should settle this, however as the game goes on Portsmouth will gain confidence and so will their support.

If Chelsea kill this early, we could be on for a win of Wigan proportions, if not, then I expect a nervous 2-0 with a late goal being decisive.

Ladbrokes have Chelsea at 1/5 for the win, with the draw at 11/2, whilst Pompey are at lengthy odds of 12/1 to take the trophy back to the south coast.