Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea: Match Report

15 April 2012 20:31

Chelsea breeze past Spurs

Chelsea set up an FA Cup final against Liverpool after putting Tottenham to the sword with a ruthless 5-1 beating at Wembley.

Didier Drogba scored his seventh goal at this stadium to put the Blues ahead and they doubled their lead after the break when Juan Mata was credited with a goal even though his strike did not cross the line.

Spurs were incensed at the decision yet pulled one back straight away through Gareth Bale but a cool finish from Ramires, a blistering 30-yard free-kick from Frank Lampard, and a late fifth from Florent Malouda wrapped up a huge win for the west London club and piled yet more misery on Spurs boss Harry Redknapp.

Luka Modric charged at the Blues defence but David Luiz closed the Croatian down in the first attack of the match.

Drogba then went down the other end before finding Lampard but his weak header flew wide after a tense opening five minutes.

The Ivory Coast striker muscled his way past William Gallas to get on the end of a long punt from the back but he horribly mis-hit a volley and Cudicini gathered.

Careless defending from Kyle Walker then almost gifted Chelsea the lead.

The England right-back dallied on the ball and Salomon Kalou took advantage, galloping 40 yards towards goal before finding Juan Mata at the back post, but the Spaniard's control let him down and Cudicini collected.

The Spurs fans thought their team had the breakthrough nine minutes before half-time when Rafa Van der Vaart beat Petr Cech with a header from Lennon's cross, but John Terry cleared off the line.

Adebayor then missed an easy chance to break the deadlock five minutes before the break.

The former Arsenal striker slipped his marker to get in the path of Van der Vaart's looping cross, but he failed to make contact and the ball struck a post before bouncing to safety.

Tottenham were instantly made to pay for the mistake as Drogba fired Chelsea ahead in the 43rd minute.

The former Marseille man picked up Lampard's long ball and turned Gallas easily before firing a fierce volley past Cudicini.

Cudicini saved brilliantly from Mata three minutes in to the second half as Chelsea looked for a second.

It came in the 48th minute, but only in very controversial circumstances.

King's clearance from Luiz's header fell in to the path of Mata, whose shot hit King on the line and Benoit Assou-Ekotto then cleared while he was laying on the turf.

The ball had not crossed the line, but referee Martin Atkinson blew his whistle and awarded the goal, much to the fury of the Spurs players and supporters.

Van der Vaart led the vocal protests, shouting at the referee, while another group of Spurs players surrounded assistant Mick McDonough complaining at the decision.

Atkinson waved away their protests, however, and the goal stood.

Tottenham's players, still visibly incensed by the decision, got themselves back in to the game six minutes after Chelsea's second.

Parker's brilliant slide-rule pass sent Adebayor free, he was sent tumbling by Cech and Luiz, but the referee played advantage, allowing Bale to tap into an empty goal from five yards.

Luiz was hurt in the challenge and needed three minutes' worth of treatment before being carried off on a stretcher and was replaced by Gary Cahill.

Chelsea almost restored their two-goal cushion on the hour mark when Terry climbed to meet Lampard's corner, but Assou-Ekotto cleared off the line.

Gallas' mistake allowed Kalou to play in Drogba in the 69th minute, but King came to the rescue with a brilliant sliding tackle.

King headed just wide from Van der Vaart's corner as Spurs looked for an equaliser in the final 20 minutes.

Redknapp looked to Jermain Defoe for inspiration, the England striker replacing Van der Vaart with 15 minutes to go.

The game was killed off two minutes later, however, thanks to a strike from Ramires.

The Brazilian latched on to Mata's through-ball after being played onside by Walker and he coolly lifted the ball over the advancing Cudicini.

The Tottenham fans fell silent for the first time and they started leaving in their droves with 10 minutes to go thanks to a brilliant 30-yard free-kick from Lampard which dipped and swerved past Cudicini to make it 4-1.

Florent Malouda replaced Ramires and worryingly for Di Matteo, Drogba hobbled off to be replaced by Torres.

Malouda could have made the result a real embarrassment for Spurs in the last minute when he robbed Gallas and wandered unchallenged in to the box but his looping shot just missed the goal, and Torres at the back post.

The humiliation was complete moments later when Malouda got on the end of Mata's pass and slid past Cudicini for Chelsea's fifth.




Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea: Match Report - view commentary, squad, and statictics of the game as it happened.

Source: PA