Portsmouth beat fellow English Premier League side Birmingham City 2 - 0 to reach the FA Cup semi-finals thanks to two goals by Frederic Piquionne.

But London rivals Fulham and Tottenham - managed by Harry Redknapp, who masterminded Portsmouth’s FA Cup triumph in 2008 - will have to replay after a goalless draw at Craven Cottage.

French forward Piquionne scored twice in three second-half minutes for Portsmouth, forcing the ball home from close range and then, in the 70th minute, after being played in by Jamie O’Hara, beating Joe Hart when one-on-one with the goalkeeper to the delight of the Fratton Park faithful.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jermain Defoe of Tottenham Hotspur scored a hat-trick at Elland Road to help Harry Redknapp’s side overcome Leeds and book a place in the FA Cup fifth round with a 3-1 win on Wednesday.

England striker Defoe missed a host of good chances but still managed to come up trumps for the Premier League side with strikes in the 37th and 73rd minutes before putting the result beyond all doubt in the fourth minute of stoppage time to take his tally for the season to 22 goals.

Luciano Becchio had equalised for Leeds on the stroke of half-time as Simon Grayson’s League One side threatened to pull off another shock in front of a partisan home crowd.

But Defoe secured a trip for Tottenham to top-flight rivals Bolton in the last 16 and kill-off the Cup dreams of Leeds, who had knocked Manchester United at Old Trafford out of the competition in stunning style in the previous round.

Read the rest of this entry »

Arsenal became the latest member of the Premier League’s elite to suffer an early exit from the FA Cup as Ricardo Fuller’s double strike inspired Stoke’s 3-1 win over the Gunners in the fourth round on Sunday.

Manchester United, humbled by League One Leeds, and Liverpool, shocked by Reading, both perished in the third round and Arsene Wenger’s much-changed side were condemned to an equally chastening defeat at the Britannia Stadium.

After claiming that Arsenal remain vulnerable to physical opponents, Fuller underlined his pre-match jibe by heading the hosts into the lead after 70 seconds.

The Gunners defence, including debutant Sol Campbell, failed to deal with Rory Delap’s trademark long-throw and Fuller nipped in front of hesitant goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski to head home from close-range.

Read the rest of this entry »

Guus Hiddinck received the best farewell present on Saturday when Chelsea beat Everton 2 - 1 in the FA Cup final played at Wembley.

Blues interim boss Hiddink resumes his role as Russia coach on a full-time basis in June but he will always be fondly remembered at Stamford Bridge after leading Chelsea to their first trophy for two years.

Everton had made the perfect start when Louis Saha struck after just 25 seconds to claim the fastest goal in FA Cup final history.

But Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba headed Chelsea level midway through the first half before Lampard’s long-range effort sealed his club’s fifth FA Cup success and ensured Hiddink would leave on a high.

It was also a memorable day for Chelsea defender Ashley Cole, who became the first player for more than 100 years to earn five FA Cup winners’ medals.

For Drogba it meant a welcome high after having been lambasted following his outburst when Chelsea were knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona.

“I am really delighted,” gasped Drogba.

“It took a lot of effort. We needed to win a trophy this season. We just had to believe in our expectations. Guus Hiddink has transformed us.”

Lampard said that his trbute when he scored was for his mother, who died last year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Everton manager David Moyes is sweating over the fitness of South Africa’s Steven Pienaar and veteran midfielder Phil Neville ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup final against Chelsea.

Pienaar and former Manchester United star Neville both suffered minor hamstring injuries in Sunday’s 2-0 victory at Fulham and face fitness tests this week to assess their chances of making the Wembley date.

Moyes said: “Neville has a problem with his hamstring as does Pienaar. We’ll have to see how they are - I don’t know about next week yet.

“Phil’s was a little worse than Pienaar’s, I’ll have to see how he is as the week progresses.”

Losing both players would be a massive blow to Moyes but he believes France striker Louis Saha has the potential to frighten Chelsea’s defenders into submission anyway.

Saha is getting back to the form which saw him earn his 12.8 million pounds move to Manchester United from Fulham in 2004.

Moyes saw Saha, 30, turn in a spirited performance against his former club at Craven Cottage.

The Frenchman is now certain for a starting berth against Chelsea given that Everton’s on-loan Brazilian striker Jo is cup-tied for the showpiece final.

Read the rest of this entry »

Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard saved two penalties against his former club last night in the FA Cup semi-final to put an end to Manchester United’s bid to win an unprecedented four trophies this season. The last time Everton made the FA Cup final was in 1995.

Howard saved United’s first two spot-kicks from Dimitar Berbatov and Rio Ferdinand ater a turgid semifinal ended 0-0 after extra time at Wembley Stadium.

Everton will return to Wembley for the final on May 30 against Chelsea, who beat Arsenal 2-1 in Saturday’s first semifinal.

Everton defender Phil Jagielka scored the winning penalty, blasting the ball past goalkeeper Ben Foster to inflict United’s first defeat in an FA Cup semifinal since 1970.

United manager Alex Ferguson gambled by playing a largely reserve side and defeat ended the European champions’ hopes of winning an unprecedented five major trophies this season.

“It was a tough game for us. Man United, whoever they play, they could put out their under-14’s and it would have been a tough game because they play to win every competition that they are in,” Everton manager David Moyes said in a televised interview.

Read the rest of this entry »

Arsenal came from behind to beat Hull City 2-1 in their FA Cup quarter-final at the Emirates Stadium in London last night. The Gunners struggled to break down a resolute Tigers defence until 16 minutes from time Andrei Arshavin unselfishly set up Robin Van Persie for a close range tap in. Arshavin who was quiet until the end of the 1st half was the crucial element in the Arsenals fight back and in the end proved to much for a tired Hull defence.. Then just 6 minutes before full time an offside William gallas headed home from close range to ensure Arsenals first visit to the new Wembley stadium where they will face Chelsea.

The Tigers came out all guns blazing and took the lead through a deflection off Djourou from a shot by Nick Barmby and left fabianski for dead. Hull fortunatley couldn’t maitain their level of intensity and once the Arsenal got control of the ball the complexity of the game changed which saw Hull constantly on the back foot defending.The match was marred by a number of ridiculous yellow cards dished out by Mike Riley and many a Hull player should and will feel agrieved by some of his descisions.At the end of the day Arsenal live on to fight another day.

The English FA are waiting for the referee’s report before deciding whether to take any action against Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas following an allegation he spat at Hull City assistant manager Brian Horton. Hull manager Phil Brown had accused Spaniard Fabregas of spitting at the feet of Horton in the tunnel of the Emirates Stadium after Arsenal’s 2-1 FA Cup quarterfinal victory on Tuesday.

“We are aware of the allegations but are waiting for the report from referee Mike Riley, or if there is any complaint from Hull City,” an FA spokesman said on Wednesday.

Fabregas strongly denied spitting at anyone.

“I categorically deny that I spat at anybody after the match,” Fabregas, who did not play because of injury, said in a statement on Arsenal’s website (http://www.arsenal.com).

“I have never done this in my whole career on the pitch, so why would I do it when I am not even playing?

“I can understand the frustration of losing a game to a dubious goal, that has happened to me many times in my career as well. But this is not the fault of me or any of the Arsenal players.”

Brown said he had watched Fabregas spitting near his assistant manager.

“I was there and I witnessed it, he spat at my assistant manager down the tunnel,” Brown had said at a post-match news conference after William Gallas’s controversial late header knocked his side out of the Cup.

Brown added: “He spat at his feet.”

Arsenal manager Wenger said he had not witnessed any incidents at the end of the game.

Read the rest of this entry »

It was the Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard who kept his team in the FA Cup by equalizing 6 minutes before the turn of the hour against Everton at Anfield on Sunday night. The two teams drew 1 - 1  for the second time in a week.

When the teams met on Monday, it was Everton who fought back to force a draw and dent Liverpool’s Premier League title ambitions, but Sunday’s fourth round tie saw the Reds come from behind.

Everton took the lead in the 27th minute when Liverpool failed to mark Tim Cahill in the box.

The Australia midfielder’s header from Steven Pienaar’s corner was nodded home from close range by Joleon Lescott.

But Gerrard, as he’s done so often before, dragged Liverpool back into the match with a well-struck shot six minutes before the hour although Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard ought to have saved at his near post.

Gerrard, who opened the scoring on Monday, said Liverpool had deserved to win this match.

“In the league game Everton were worthy of a point but for 90 minutes we’ve dominated the game and they’ve scored off a set-piece which is disappointing,” he said.

“I thought we were fantastic. The only thing we’ll look at is set-pieces and being a bit more clinical in front of goal.” Asked about the undesirability of a replay, Gerrard said: “Both sides could have done without it, both would have wanted to progress tonight.”

Earlier, Arsenal were also left contemplating the somewhat unwelcome prospect of a replay against Cardiff City after their Welsh opponents held them to a goalless draw at Ninian Park.

“We could do without it, but let’s not complain because we play football,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

“It’s one more game to play. If that’s the price we have to pay to stay in the hat, we’re happy to do it.”

Read the rest of this entry »