Chelsea eased through to the fifth round of the FA Cup, defeating Preston North End 2-0. It was a professional, clinical performance from Chelsea with goals from strikers Nicolas Anelka and Daniel Sturridge enough to guarantee that there’d be no “cupset” from Darren Ferguson’s side. Ancelotti was true to his word, sticking with the side he named 24 hours earlier. Hilario, Ferreira, Alex, Zhirkov, Belletti and Sturridge were some of…
Deepdale plays host to an FA Cup fourth round tie between Preston North End and Chelsea. Preston North End reached this stage by thrashing Colchester United 7-0, whilst Chelsea were victorious over Watford 5-0. Curiously, Carlo Ancelotti has named his side already and without doubt it is one strong enough to beat Preston. Hilario, Ferreira, Alex, Terry and Zhirkov make up the back five, Belletti, Ballack, Lampard and Deco the…
Following Chelsea over the years has brought many highs and lows, but one of the strangest set of memories for me goes back over forty years to the 4th round in January and February of 1969. Over the previous four seasons we’d reached the sixth round, two semi-finals and lost to T*tt*nh*m in the first all-London final. Dave Sexton was manager having taken over from Tommy Docherty fifteen months earlier….