Poland international Lukasz Fabianski had a birthday to forget
as his error gifted Chelsea a 2-1 victory in their FA Cup
semi-final defeat of Arsenal at Wembley.
Theo Walcott put the Gunners ahead after 18 minutes when his
volley took a deflection off Ashley Cole and beat Petr Cech.
Chelsea fought back and levelled through Florent Malouda, and
sealed a return to Wembley when Didier Drogba latched on to a long
ball ahead of the on-rushing Fabianski, and slotted into a empty
net six minutes from time.
Although Andrey Arshavin went close in stoppage time, there was
no way back for the Gunners, allowing Chelsea to claim capital
dominance, while also quietly keeping them on track for the
Treble.
And, as almost a side issue, there is bound to be a further
clamour for Guus Hiddink to stay on as manager beyond next month,
although it had not looked too good for the Dutchman earlier
on.
Having conceded seven goals in a week, the last thing Petr Cech
needed was to see another flash past him in slightly dubious
circumstances.
In fairness, Cech was not the only one culpable. Nicolas Anelka
was caught on his heels as Kieran Gibbs nipped past to reach
Emmanuel Adebayor's neat pass.
Gibbs' cross was decent, allowing Theo Walcott to let fly with a
first-time volley that flicked off Ashley Cole's hand.
The deflection did alter the direction of the ball. Yet the
feeling persisted that the Cech of three years ago would have kept
it out.
Walcott's goal was just reward for a sparkling start. The young
England star was the pick of an Arsenal side whose movement was a
joy to watch, even if their end product was not always the
best.
Denilson and Abou Diaby had been asked to anchor midfield. Yet
they still found time to push forward. Indeed, with a bit more
composure, Diaby might have found the net himself.
The Gunners' bench contained Arshavin, Samir Nasri and Aaron
Ramsey. In other areas they were lacking, specifically
goalkeeper.
In all probability Manuel Almunia would not have been involved
at Wembley even if an ankle injury had kept him on the
sidelines.
On Friday Wenger expressed his faith in Fabianski. It looked
more like blind optimism judging by the Pole's first-half
performance.
On his 24th birthday, Fabianski was the one handing out
presents, setting the tone barely two minutes into the game when he
lost out in an aerial duel with Drogba, Gibbs forced to chase back
and hack off the line as the Ivorian's header was about to bounce
in.
Fabianski was then fortunate to escape when he failed to get
behind a fierce shot from Florent Malouda that skimmed under his
body before flashing across goal.
It all pointed to an equaliser, which duly arrived when Malouda
cut inside Emmanuel Eboue and beat Fabianski at his near post,
although it was hard to quibble with the Frenchman's accuracy.
Anelka hit a post after robbing Diaby inside the Arsenal box
just before half-time and Chelsea continued to look the more likely
scorers after the break, even though their opponents were, in
patches, the better team.
An acrobatic clearance by Alex may have denied Walcott, who was
involved in a fascinating duel with England team-mate Cole, but it
fell perfectly for Robin van Persie, who could only fire
disappointingly over.
Anelka was off target with a header at the other end, before
Lampard volleyed an excellent chance wide from Drogba's cross.
Through all this, Fabianski had been relatively stable.
All that changed six minutes from the end when he inexplicably
raced out of his area as Drogba brushed off Mikael Silvestre to
reach Lampard's long ball.
What should have been a 50-50 duel turned into a walkover as
Drogba skipped round Fabianski and tapped Chelsea into the final,
where they will meet either Manchester United or Everton on May
30.
From www.soccernet.com
