Nicolas Anelka scored against Bolton to regaining the title.

CHELSEA 1
- Anelka 43

BOLTON WANDERERS 0

**Chelsea cemented their position at the top of the Premier League table and opened a four-point lead over Manchester United following a 1-0 victory over relegation-threatened Bolton Wanderers.

The performance was ragged at times and the Blues' customary possession game crumbled in the face of the Trotters' more physical display.

However, Carlo Ancelotti's boys battled to earn three points and create a clear gap at the top.

Bolton pressed and harried Chelsea in the early exchanges and had the better of the first 20 minutes, although the Blues came closest to getting the ball in the net when a Didier Drogba free-kick was punched clear by Jussi Jaaskelainen straight onto the head of Salomon Kalou but he guided it wide.

The breakthrough came two minutes before half-time when Drogba zinged in a superbly weighted out-swinger from the left, allowing Nicolas Anelka to head home from close range with Jaaskelainen stranded.

Chelsea's physios were kept busy at half-time. There had been an anxious moment in the eighth minute when John Terry hurt his right foot tackling Matthew Taylor, but he carried on playing to the relief of watching England manager Fabio Capello.

Left-back Yury Zhirkov was also in the wars. A clash of heads with Bolton striker Kevin Davies left the Russian wearing a large bandage until he could be stitched up.

For Bolton, Chung-Yong Lee proved slippery and elusive on the right flank, but Chelsea, with three changes to Saturday's Wembley starting line-up, did enough, even if it was all hands to the pump at the end.

Midfielder Deco was rested as Ancelotti continued rotating his squad, while in-form Florent Malouda, who had scored five times in the previous four games, and Joe Cole came on as second-half substitutes.

Bolton had a handball shout against Chelsea captain Terry waved away by referee Lee Probert and the Blues came a whisker away from doubling their lead when Frank Lampard beat the keeper in the 79th minute only to see his shot ricochet off the post.

Substitute Johan Elmander came closest to levelling for Bolton with a far-post header and Cole had a chance to wrap it all up in stoppage time but the ball got caught under his feet.

Team Line-Ups :

Chelsea: Petr Cech, John Terry, Alex, Paulo Ferreira, Yuri Zhirkov, John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Nicolas Anelka (Florent Malouda 67), Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou (Joe Cole 77).

Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Substance Knight, Gary Cahill, Paul Robinson, Gretar Rafn Steinsson, Samuel Ricketts, Fabrice Muamba, Jack Wilshere (Johan Elmander 82), Matt Taylor, Chung-Yong Lee (Ivan Klasnić 83), Kevin Davies.

Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Portsmouth: Piquionne, Boateng scores

**Despite experiencing various problems, but Portsmouth prove their quality. Through extra-time, The Pompey frustrate Tottenham Hotspur, and won the FA Cup final tickets.

Spurs overcome Portsmouth 2-0 in the semi-final match held at Wembley, Sunday (11/4/2010) . The winning goal FA Cup winners 2007/2008 season was recorded Frederic Piquonne in the 99th minute and Kevin Prince Boateng minute penalty 117.

In the final to be held next May 15, The Pompey the season is buffeted by a severe financial crisis and almost certainly relegated from the Premiership at the end of the season, will face Chelsea.

The game

Spurs' first chance to pick in the fifth minute. Through a corner of the football situation, Jermain Defoe off attacks from close range but still failed to penetrate the target.

Seven minutes later Portsmouth's turn to invade. Frederic Piquionne managed to successfully kick secured by Heurelho Gomes.

Buying and selling attacks have continued. Minutes to-27, Tom Huddlestone cross ditanduk by Peter Crouch. Tall players efforts were successful denied by Portsmouth goalkeeper David James.

Ten minutes later, Hassan Yebda breakthrough bait Piquionne leads to a successful escape from the escort Spurs defender. Furthermore, players were numbered the back nine opened fire can still be driven flat Gomes. Aruna Dindane struck the ball rebounds. But the loose ball that he had not led to the goal so that it can be secured by Gomes.

Six minutes into the break, David James in action foiled a removable chip kick Tom Huddlestone from outside the penalty box.

At the end of the first half, two opportunities that got the Spurs midfielder David Bentley entirely thwarted Portsmouth midfielder Marc Wilson.

A minute after the restart, Defoe kick from the right goal can still be discarded by Portsmouth defender Ricardo Rocha.

The Pompey threaten via Kevin Prince Boateng's free-kick on 51 minutes. The ball had bounced the ground in front of the wicket The Lilywhites and then driven away by Gomes and producing football corner.

Four minutes later, a cross was met Aruna Dindane cross. The ball can be caught by Gomes.

Spurs opportunity through Defoe's pass in the 55th minute was too weak so that James would not be too difficult to break the attack.

Next Spurs more threat. However, Crouch got two opportunities in each of the 65 minutes and three minutes later still deviated from the target.

Golden opportunity came for Spurs in the 70th minute. Vedran Corluka released the ball from the left side of the Portsmouth penalty box hit the foot of Aaron Mokoena and could lead to the goal itself. Although overshadowed Crouch, Mokoena successfully throw the ball out.

Five minutes towards the end of the second half, Spurs strike back. Through the corner of the football situation, a ball and then kicked by Kranjcar. But the efforts of Croatia's players still hit the foot of Boateng who was standing in front of the goalposts.

James returned to action in the 90th minute. Luka Modric struck feed from Peter Crouch, the ball successfully ignored by the former England goalkeeper. Gareth Bale struck the ball bounce, but only giving soccer corner kick.

0-0 score stood until 2 x 45 minutes done half forcing extra time. In the first minutes of extra time, the threat of Portsmouth through Piquionne still sideways from goalkeeper Gomes.

Portsmouth opened the scoring in the 99th minute through Piquionne. This goal started from a free kick situation. French players were successful using the situation as defender Michael Dawson who escorted him from slipping. Piquionne then shook off the execution of the North London team goalkeeper.

Crouch had scored in 11 minute first half of extra time. However annulled because of previous violations.

Second half minute of extra time to walk, James avert incursion Spurs built by Gareth Bale and terminated by the execution Pavlyuchenko.

Portsmouth lock the victory in the 117th minute through a penalty Kevin Prince Boateng. There were 12 right-kick awarded after Sebastian Bassong Aruna Dindane in the box violating forbidden.

The last chances in this game comes through substitute spurn The Pompey, John Utaka. Kick can still be pushed over by Gomes.

Teams :

Tottenham Hotspur: Gomes; Dawson, Bassong, Bale, Corluka, Bentley (Kranjcar 78 '), Huddlestone (Gudjohnsen 102'), Modric, Palcios, Crouch, Defoe (Pavlyuchenko 59 ')

Portsmouth: James, Finnan, Rocha, Brown, Mullins (Hughes 119 '), Mokoena, Yebda (Utaka 87'), Boateng, Wilson, Piquionne (Bouba Diop 112 '), Dindane

Liverpool lost moment in their pursuit of the fourth Champions League

**Liverpool appear dominant when entertain Fulham . But because there is no goal that is created, any additional points to make one step 'The Red' pursuit of the Champions League next season's ticket increasingly heavy.

Playing at Anfield, Sunday (11/4/2010), Liverpool launched an offensive barrage for the attack on the Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer who was escorted by. However, Lady Luck was not overshadow Liverpool which ultimately must be satisfied with the score 0-0.

With this result, the desire Liverpool finish in the four major would not only increasingly difficult. Gang Anfield position in the ranking of the six championship was vulnerable displaced because underneath there is Aston Villa who have two games more than Liverpool, with only two points behind it.

The game

Both Liverpool and Fulham are both not able to make a goal during the match at Anfield was thoroughly 45 minutes. As a result, the score was still 0-0 at halftime interval.

Liverpool made an early opportunity after only five minutes walk. Steven Gerrard bait bait casting distance from the left and eventually joined David N'Gog with thin broad volley kick from the goal.

Liverpool created another opportunity in the 22nd minute. From the left side, to release Ryan Babel cross and Alberto Aquilani welcomed with tandukan that are still on target.

Eight minutes later, Mark Schwarzer was forced to perform a rescue. From cooperation N'Gog and Aquilani, Javier Mascherano controlled the ball and then fired shots that make long distance and Schwarzer had to berjibaku.

Daniel Agger tried hard to open fire in the minutes of injury time. But the direction is still soaring.

One another golden opportunity for Liverpool was born on 62 minutes. This time the results of Babel tried to kick as he pushed over Schwarzer dropped. Light touch from the goalkeeper to make the ball actually hit the pole.

Seven minutes later once again successfully created opportunities only Liverpool. This time the bait Gerrard can continue N'Gog although its direction is not right on target.

Sotiris Kyrgiakos also recorded a golden chance for Liverpool. At 76 minutes, Dirk Kuyt sent a cross to the far pole and Kyrgiakos welcomed with header from close range which again still can not break down the Fulham goal.

Team Line-Ups:

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Kyrgiakos, Carragher, Agger, Aquilani (Kuyt '65), Mascherano, Maxi, Gerrard, Babel (Benayoun '72), Ngog (Pacheco '79)

Fulham: Schwarzer, Baird, Hangeland, Hughes, Konchesky, greening (B Riise '82), Murphy (Dikgacoi '76), Etuhu, Duff, Nevland, Zamora (vinegar Okaka '68)

Manchester City moved four points clear of an Spurs

**One down and five to go! The glittering prize of Champions League football is a step nearer.

The Blues moved four points clear of an otherwise engaged Spurs and bolstered their goal difference too thanks to another clinical mix of organisation and flair.

Roberto Mancini’s side again managed that heady balance that allows a perfect marriage between rapier attacking thrusts and the broadsword of uncompromising defending.

It is a mix of ingredients that has now served up three successive league wins at a time when all about them are finding the going tougher than they would like.

Victory was not really in doubt from the moment the habitually stubborn Birmingham defence – minus on loan City keeper Joe Hart – was finally breached in the 38th minute.

The previous largely less than inspiring sparring was suddenly rendered irrelevant as the home side landed three telling knockout blows in five minutes.

First Carlos Tevez converted from the spot with aplomb after Emmanuel Adebayor had been felled by Scott Dann, then Nedum Onuoha planted a header – Via Tevez big toe - past Maik Taylor and finally Gareth Barry sent Craig Bellamy to the by-line from where he presented a tap to Adebayor.

In between times, just to add some spice and surrealism to the last seven minutes of the half, Cameron Jerome benefitted from some poor marking to nod one back for Birmingham.

It is not often that a manager sees his side win on the road 6-1 and then changes the eleven but that is what happened here as Mancini’s hand was forced by a calf injury to Brazilian defender Sylvinho and then a problem in the warm up with Patrick Vieira.

Javier Garrido replaced Sylvinho and Nigel De Jong stepped from the bench to take the Frenchman’s role.

The late switch opened the door, too, to another new face, 19-year-old midfielder Scott Kay who hails from Denton and is an FA Youth Cup winner, was amongst the subs.

Indeed statistics, which are creeping more and more into English sport, strongly suggested this would be a home win. Manchester went into the contest in a rich vein of attacking form having scored an average of 2.67 goals per game in their past six matches – one figure they enhanced.

Birmingham, meanwhile, chugged up the M6 having gone five Premier League games without a win, their worst run since May 2008.

For all their decent home record against the top teams and a league position that allows them more a comfortable final month of the season than most, they have only won three matches in the league in 2010.

Alex McLeish’s side’s only clean sheet in their last 13 games came in a 1-0 home win against Wigan in February!

That additional touch of class showed all over the pitch particularly out wide was where the game was won and lost. Once Adam Johnson and Craig Bellamy got their eye in and the after-burners turned on, the home side looked unstoppable and full of menace.

Gareth Barry’s contribution in midfield was brimming with classy touches and clever possession of the ball and some of Adebayor’s footwork was eye-popping. And a bonus was that DeJong came through uncarded and is now free of a tenth yellow bringing a ban.

As far as scoring chances after the break there were several but the keepers came out on top with Taylor denying Tevez with a fine diving effort from a free kick and Given’s legs protecting the home side’s lead when Fahey threatened.

The Blues finally put some gloss on the final score in the 76th minute when Onuoha proved his pedigree in the opposition box sashaying beyond the Birmingham before Adebayor also made it two for the afternoon sliding home a one-on-one fifth three minutes from the end.

Teams :

Manchester City: Shay Given; Vincent Kompany, Kolo Toure, Javier Garrido, Nedum Onuoha, Gareth Barry, Nigel De Jong; Craig Bellamy (Phillips 81), Adam Johnson, Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tevez (Cruz 87).

Birmingham City: Maik Taylor; Scott Dann, Roger Johnson, Liam Ridgewell, Stephen Carr, Lee Bowyer, Barry Ferguson, James McFadden, Keith Fahey (Phillips 66), Craig Gardner, Cameron Jerome

United's lost opportunity against Blackburn could be costly.

**Manchester United squandered a chance to regain the Premier League lead when it settled for a 0-0 tie with Blackburn on Sunday to remain behind Chelsea in the title race.

A victory would have put United a point ahead of Chelsea, but Antonio Valencia and Dimitar Berbatov both missed chances at Ewood Park.

Chelsea, which now leads the league by one point, has the chance to go four ahead of United by beating Bolton at home Tuesday.

Meanwhile Portsmouth reached the FA Cup final by beating Tottenham 2-0 a day after it was relegated from the English top flight.

It turned out to be a good day for Chelsea, which stayed ahead of United in the league title race and then found out it would face Portsmouth — in financial administration and down at the foot of the Premier League standings — rather than fifth-place Tottenham in the May 15 cup final.

In one of the biggest shocks of the season, extra-time goals by Frederic Piquionne and Kevin-Prince Boateng gave cash-strapped Portsmouth victory in a dramatic semifinal at Wembley.

While Portsmouth fans know their team will be playing in the League Championship next season, they also know they will be returning to Wembley where their team won the FA Cup two seasons ago, coincidentally under current Spurs coach Harry Redknapp.

United's lost opportunity against Blackburn could be costly.

"It's a blow, there's no question about that, and it makes it really difficult to win the league now," said United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, whose team is trying to become the first to win the league title four times in a row.

"That's a fantastic result for [Chelsea]. They will be really delighted at that and they have a home game against Bolton on Tuesday. They will be expected to win that of course. We needed to win today. We are a point behind Chelsea and they have a game in hand and that would take it to four points and it's a big gap."

Without 34-goal Wayne Rooney, who is sidelined with an ankle injury, United failed to dominate a mid-standings Blackburn side and its first clear chance did not come until just before halftime, when Valencia broke clear, only for Blackburn goalkeeper Paul Robinson to block his shot.

Berbatov had a good chance in the 80th minute when he was unmarked 15 yards out but shot straight at the keeper. Three minutes later, the Bulgaria striker, whose inconsistent form has made him unpopular with many of the United fans, fired wide from the edge of the area.

Deep into injury time, a half-chance fell to United right back Gary Neville but he pulled his shot wide with his weaker left foot.

Manchester City strengthened its hold on fourth place with a 5-1 victory over Birmingham.

Carlos Tevez stroked home a 38th-minute penalty and added a second when he touched in a header from Nedum Onuoha. Emmanuel Adebayor made it three before he and Onuoha scored further goals to move City on to 62 points from 33 games. Tottenham has 58 from 32.

Without injured striker Fernando Torres, Liverpool was held 0-0 at home by Fulham to lose more ground on City in the race for fourth. Rafa Benitez's sixth-place team now has 56 points from 34 games, with Aston Villa next on 54 from 32.

Wolves edged closer to safety with a 0-0 draw at home to mid-table Stoke and are now six points above the relegation zone with four games still to play.

Team Line-Ups :

Blackburn Rovers: Robinson, Jones, Givet, Salgado, Nzonzi, Samba (Nelsen 32 ') Grella, Pedersen, Olsson (Diouf 70'), Emerton (Dunn 45 '), Kalinic

Manchester United: Van der Sar, Vidic, Ferdinand, O'Shea (Evra 78 '), Neville, Scholes, Nani, Giggs (Gibson 57'), Valencia, Macheda (Park 65 '), Berbatov

Great Chelsea through Drogba, Malouda and Lampard

**Goals from Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda secured Chelsea's place in the FA Cup Final after the Blues beat Aston Villa 3-0 at Wembley.

Aston Villa went into the game hoping they wouldn’t face a repeat of the 7-1 battering they took at the hands of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in March, with Chelsea wanting to extend their unbeaten streak to five games by seeing off Martin O’Neil’s side at Wembley to book their place in the FA Cup final.

Both Richard Dunne and James Milner recovered from Achilles injuries in time to feature in Martin O’Neil’s starting eleven, with Milner replacing Fabien Delph in Villa’s midfield.

Carlo Ancelotti made only one change to the side that has beaten both Villa and Manchester United in the past fortnight, bringing in Didier Drogba to replace Nicolas Anelka up front for the Blues.

Play in the opening minutes was hindered by the slippery surface at Wembley, with Aston Villa having the better of the play early on, pushing forward well and forcing Alex to concede a corner, which failed to find a Villa player after Downing had sent the ball in from the right-hand side.

But Chelsea soon managed to find their feet and created a couple of chances, with Alex failing to convert a header from a corner before Brad Friedel easily grabbed on to an effort from Joe Cole.

With fifteen minutes on the clock Stiliyan Petrov played a good ball to Milner who found himself in space just outside the box, striking well from distance and seeing his shot fly past Petr Cech’s outstretched arm but also past the post.

Seconds later Aston Villa may have felt they should have had a penalty, with Gaby Agbonlahor being impeded inside the box by John-Obi Mikel, but referee Howard Webb allowed play to continue, waving away Villa players shouts for a spot-kick.

With half an hour gone Chelsea began to take control of the game, though a lack of real pace and a number of misplaced passes meant that the Blues failed to find a way through the Villa defence, who dealt with Chelsea’s attacking moves comfortably.

With Carlo Ancelotti becoming increasing frustrated Chelsea stepped it up a gear, with Florent Malouda sending a dangerous ball into the box allowing Drogba to fire towards goal before Stephen Warnock slid in to make a crucial block, denying the Ivorian striker a semi-final opener.

As the half-time whistle blew Villa will have felt the better of the two sides, looking dominant in the opening minutes and creating the better of the chances throughout the half. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom for Chelsea, with Carlo Ancelotti’s side looking the more dangerous of the two in the closing minutes of the first 45.

Just after Howard Webb got the second-half got underway Villa had a great chance to get themselves in the lead, with Stewart Downing sending a corner into the middle of the box from the right-hand side, allowing Carew to get his head to it, but the Villa front man couldn’t hit the target, sending the ball narrowly wide of the left-hand post.

But it was Chelsea who’d take hold of the first ten minutes of the second-half. With the London side having 65% of the possession in the opening stages and coming close to getting a goal when Deco fired wide from just outside the area after a Chelsea corner was scrambled away from the Villa box.

With half an hour left to play Villa had another chance to put themselves in the lead when Agbonlahor took a quick throw in the final third which found Ashley Young, but the England-hopeful couldn’t convert his chance after breaking into the box, firing directly towards Cech who made an easy save.

Minutes later Chelsea made their first substitution of the tie, with Joe Cole coming off and being replaced by Salomon Kalou.

With 65 minutes gone Chelsea got themselves in front, when a poor clearance by Richard Dunne fell to John Terry outside of the box, who took a shot which looked to be going wide before Drogba intercepted and fired past Friedel and into the bottom corner to give his side a 1-0 lead.

Ten minutes later Chelsea made another substitution, this time Deco was the man to make way with former Bayern Munich midfielder Michael Ballack coming on to replace him.

Minutes later Carlo Ancelotti made his third and final substitution of the evening, taking off goal-scorer Drogba and replacing him with Anelka.

With just ten minutes to save the tie Martin O'Neil made his first change of the game, bringing off Carew and replacing him with England international Emile Heskey.

Villa will have felt they could have got much more from the game and had Howard Webb awarded them a penalty in the first-half things may have been completely different.

With 90 minutes almost up Chelsea extended their lead after Malouda fired a shot into the bottom corner from close range after substitute Ballack sent a brilliant cross into the box.

In extra time Frank Lampard further increased Chelsea's lead, firing in from deep inside the area after latching onto a well-placed ball by Anelka.

The win kept Chelsea's hopes of doing a domestic double alive, with the Blues progressing to the final to face either Spurs or Pompey.

Teams Line-Ups :

Aston Villa : Friedel, Cuellar, Collins, Dunne, Warnock, Petrov, Milner, Downing, Young, Carew (Heskey 82 '), Agbonlahor.

Chelsea: Cech, Ferreira, Terry, Alex, Zhirkov, Mikel, Joe Cole (Kalou 65 '), Lampard, Deco (Ballack 76'), Malouda, Drogba (Anelka 79 ').


Source : http://www.goal.com

Alexander twice pinalty, Paterson and Elliott scored

**The theme tune of The Great Escape rang out around the KC Stadium before kick-off this afternoon, but come full-time it was Burnley who were celebrating. Not that either side are likely to escape the relegation zone now, the blow of West Ham’s home win effectively putting the kibosh on any lingering hopes of salvation.

Still Burnley will have felt the exhilaration of a win – their first away victory of the season – in a game that Hull, with the slightly better form of the two sides, had been expected to swing. But the pendulum took an unexpected and very decided turn in Burnley’s favour, and after two penalties, Iain Dowie’s team left the pitch looking dazed and confused.

Hull had started the game so confident and bright. Little more than two minutes in and Jozy Altidore chipped a lovely floating ball across goal to meet Kevin Kilbane’s head, the Ireland international putting the ball away to score his first goal in 26 months. What a wait, but what sweet timing.

Burnley’s defence clearly had not learned much since their 6-1 drubbing at home to Manchester City last week. Altidore had a chance to score a second for Hull as he turned the head-bandaged Michael Duff, only for his shot to be parried away by the keeper, Brian Jensen. Jimmy Bullard caught the rebound, but volleyed the ball over the crossbar.

With Hull driving one-way traffic, any chance of a Burnley comeback looked unlikely. But Brian Laws’s side kept chipping away, and all of a sudden the visitors struck gold. Tyrone Mears’s cross came for Martin Paterson who slid the ball under the arm of Boaz Myhill.

In the second half Burnley grew in confidence, Duff just missing a perfect chance to give his side the lead as he failed to convert with Paterson’s cross despite being completely unmarked. On the sidelines Laws drove his head into his hands, doubled over in disbelief, but as the game wore on it became apparent that it was Hull who were falling apart.

Minutes later Dowie could hardly believe his eyes as Ibrahima Sonko brought down Duff, gifting Burnley a penalty. The captain, Graham Alexander, stepped up and slotted the ball home to put Burnley into the lead. Five minutes later and David Nugent raced through, Bernard Mendy panicked and tugged him down. The referee, Martin Atkinson, once again pointed to the spot, and Alexander booted home his second of the day.

Hull attempted a late revival, but deep into injury time it was Burnley who were the strongest, Wade Elliott curling home his side’s fourth goal of the day.

Team Line-Ups:

Hull City: Myhill, McShane (Giovanni 67), Sonko, Mouyokolo, Dawson (Barmby 51), Mendy, Bullard, Boateng, Kilbane; Altidore, Fagan (Vennegoor 74)

Burnley: Jensen; Mears, Duff (Caldwell 85), Cort, Fox; Paterson, Cork, Alexander, Elliott, Flet