Chelsea Middlesbrough and Fulham are the first three teams through to this year's FA Cup semi-finals after victories over Spurs Middlesbrough and West Brom respectively today.
Chelsea simply blew Spurs away at White Hart Lane this afternoon and were in no way flattered by the final 4-0 scoreline. Claudio Ranieri's side went ahead after only 12 minutes when defender William Gallas bundled the ball home for his first Chelsea goal after Spurs keeper Neil Sullivan failed to deal with a corner. Les Ferdinand then missed a glorious chance to equalise after 38 minutes when he headed against a post with just Cudicini to beat. The sides went in at the break with just one goal between them but in the second half it was all Chelsea.
The crucial second goal went the way of the Blues just three minutes into the second period when Eidur Gudjohnsen beat the offside trap and calmly slotted past Sullivan. Six minutes later and the result was put beyond doubt when Graeme Le Saux capitalised on a mistake by Tim Sherwood to rifle the ball into the corner. Spurs' misery was completed after 66 minutes when Gudjohnsen got his second. In a fiery game Chelsea's Le Saux was sent off in the 77th minute for a second bookable offence.
Earlier today, Middlesbrough reached the semi-finals with a 3-0 defeat over Everton at the Riverside Stadium. The match was all but over at half-time after Everton had pressed the self-destruct button and went from parity to three down in the space of just seven minutes shortly before the interval.
A dreadful mix-up between Everton defender Alessandro Pistone and goalkeeper Steve Simonsen gifted Middlesbrough striker Noel Whelan the first goal after 35 minutes. And the Merseysiders were still reeling when Alen Boksic found himself with oceans of space in the Everton goalmouth, and after his chip came back off the crossbar, Szilard Nemeth crept in to head in the rebound.
It was all over just two minutes later when sloppy midfield play from Paul Gascoigne allowed Jonathan Greening to release Boksic, whose shot Simonsen could only parry into the path of the oncoming Paul Ince.
Everton had some chances in the second period but Middlesbrough were able to see out the second 45 minutes without too much concern and ease their way into the semi-finals. "We killed the game off at half-time. Some of their finishing in the second half was sloppy. But we got the goals earlier on, and the game was practically dead by then," said scorer Ince afterwards.
Then this evening Fulham booked their place in the last four for the first time in 27 years with a 1-0 over West Bromich Albion. Steve Marlet's header in the 47th minute was the difference between the sides as Fulham had to dig deep to fend off West Brom's challenge.
Man of the match, John Collins said after the game, "It was a hard-fought second half. We could have got a second but all credit to them, they kept pushing us back and we couldn't retain possession. They kept coming back but we are delighted to be there. We knew they were a dangerous side but we were patient and got our rewards."
The semi final draw is as follows:
Middlesbrough v Newcastle or Arsenal
Fulham v Chelsea
Ties to be played Sunday April 14
Filed by Tom Grealis
