Everton Denied Cup Win By Kalou Everton 1 (Saha 62) Chelsea (Kalou 75)

Substitute Salomon Kalou rescued Chelsea with a late equaliser as Carlo Ancelotti's side stayed on course to win the FA Cup for a third successive season in a 1-1 draw with Everton today.
French striker Louis Saha looked to have earned the hosts a famous fourth round victory at Goodison Park when he brought a dull tie to life with a 62nd-minute header. But Kalou kept his composure to finish well in the 75th minute and force a replay that keeps alive lacklustre Chelsea's season.
Chelsea, who are trying to sign Liverpool striker Fernando Torres, had arrived on Merseyside with an exceptional FA Cup record. Since suffering a surprise sixth round exit at Barnsley in March 2008, the London club have embarked on a 14-match unbeaten run in the famous competition. Thanks to Kalou, that is now 15 unbeaten.

Trailing leaders Manchester United in the Premier League and with Barcelona favourites to win the UEFA Champions League, the FA Cup once again represents Chelsea's most realistic hope of silverware this season. But despite starting with eight players who played in last season's win over Portsmouth in the final at Wembley, Chelsea struggled to stamp their authority on proceedings.
Their travelling fans had to wait until the 31st minute to see Everton keeper Tim Howard make a save, the United States international doing well to keep out Nicolas Anelka's effort after the Frenchman was sent clear by Ramires. By then Everton had twice tested Petr Cech through Jack Rodwell and then Diniyar Bilyaletdinov's firm header.
Yet chances were few and far between on an afternoon when Chelsea fans taunted Everton's Merseyside neighbours Liverpool with chants of "Torres, Torres give us a wave" and "Fernando Torres Chelsea's No 9". Chelsea could certainly have done with Torres's cutting edge at Goodison. Florent Malouda forced Howard into a 35th-minute save with a powerful left-foot drive but there was little threat from Didier Drogba during a first half to forget.
Everton upped the tempo after the interval, Saha denied by a fine block by Ramires before Cech tipped Marouane Fellaini's 56th-minute header over the bar. But Saha was not to be denied and, after Leighton Baines had delivered a fine corner, the former Manchester United striker powered an unstoppable header beyond Cech.
However, Everton's lead lasted just 13 minutes as Kalou levelled things up three minutes after coming on with a precision finish on the back of a swift break.


Everton: 24-Howard, 03-Baines, 05-Heitinga, 07-Bilyaletdinov, 08-Saha, 10-Arteta, 15-Distin, 18-Neville, 23-Coleman, 25-Fellaini, 26-Rodwell SUBS USED: 16-Beckford
Chelsea: 01-Cech, 02-Ivanovic, 03-Cole, 05-Essien, 07-Ramires, 08-Lampard, 11-Drogba, 15-Malouda, 17-Bosingwa, 26-Terry, 39-Anelka SUBS USED: 12-Obi Mikel, 21-Kalou

West Ham Hammered By Pensioners West Ham United 1 (Parker 85) Chelsea 3 (Essien 2 & 83, Kalou 18)

The Premier League took a 2 week break for international commitments but it took Chelsea 2 minutes to get back into the swing of things against a West Ham side low on confidence.  This defeat for the Hammers makes it the worst start to a season in the clubs history and already there is uncertainty over the future of Avram Grant.

Chelsea on the other hand have a perfect 100% record this season and have already scored 17 goals in their 4 games conceding just the one by Scott Parker today.

We may only be 4 games into the season but West Ham find themselves rooted at the bottom of the table, 4 points adrift from safety and with games against Stoke City and Tottenham Hotspur they could be in danger of being further away from safety.

Back to the game and after 2 minutes Didier Drogba's cross from a corner found Essien unmarked to head his team in front, despite Carlton Cole's efforts to head the ball clear.

Chelsea's second goal had more than a hint of farce about it as Hammers goalkeeper Rob Green failed to cling on to a low Drogba free-kick. Upson pounced on the loose ball but his clearance cannoned into Kalou's heel and looped into the net.

Most people in the crowd knew the game was already over yet we hadn't reached the 20 minute mark.  The rest of the first half Chelsea were in control but West Ham managed to create some chances but nothing to worry Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal.

The second half saw West Ham try to take control but they couldn't get behind Chelsea and make Cech work, Chelsea seemed to have all the answers and then with 7 minutes left Essien got his second goal of the game.  Paulo Ferreira's cross found Essien who nodded home from close range.

Five minutes from time and West Ham got themselves on the scoresheet.  Cech cleared a West Ham corner but his punch found Parker who volleyed the ball over Cech and into the net.  If you heard the cheer of the West Ham crowd you wouldn't have realised they had scored.  The usual noise from the crowd had dwindled as the realisation of a relegation battle was starting to hit home.

Lineups:

West Ham: 01-Green, 3-Ben Haim, 08-Parker, 09-Cole, 13-Boa Morte, 15-Upson, 16-Noble, 21-Behrami, 23-Ilunga, 33-Obinna, 37-Jacobsen Subs Used 07-Dyer, 30-Piquionne

Chelsea: 01-Cech, 02-Ivanovic, 03-Cole, 05-Essien, 07-Ramires, 11-Drogba, 12-Obi Mikel, 19 Ferreira, 21-Kalou, 26 Terry, 39-Anelka Subs Used: 15-Malouda, 33-Alex, 44-Kakuta

Todays Other Scores:

Arsenal 4-1 Bolton Wanderers: AR-Koscielny, Chamakh, Song, Vela BW-Elmander

Everton 3-3 Manchester United: EV-Pienaar, Cahill, Arteta MU-Fletcher, Vidic, Berbatov

Fulham 2-1 Wolves: FU-Dembele (2) WW-Van Damme

Manchester City 1-1 Blackburn Rovers: MC-Viera BR-Kalinic

Newcastle United 0-2 Blackpool: BP-Adam(pen), Campbell

West Brom 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur: WB-Brunt TH-Modric

Wigan Athletic 1-1 Sunderland: WA-Alcaraz SU-Gyan

Kalou On Target For Les Elephants Ivory Coast 3 Rwanda 0

Salomon Kalou was the only scorer at the weekend for the Chelsea players in International action as The Ivory Coast, with new coach Francois Zahoui in charge for the first time in a competitive game, had little trouble dispatching Rwanda in their first match of the 2012 African Cup Of Nations Group H match today.

First-half goals from Premier League trio Yaya Toure (11) of Manchester City, Salomon Kalou (19) and Emmanuel Eboue (40) from Arsenal put them 3-0 up and the score remained that way in Abidjan with the hosts earning a comfortable win in Group H.

Dider Drogba was omitted from the squad but "Les Elephants" highest ever goalscorer refused to call time on his international career saying he will always be up for selection for Francois Zahoui

Next Match: v Burundi (A) 8th October 2010

Chelsea Have Six Appeal...AGAIN Wigan Athletic 0 Chelsea 6 (Malouda 34, Anelka 48,52, Kalou 78,90, Benayoun 90+3)

Nicolas Anelka scored twice as Chelsea continued their wonderful start to the season despite an improved display from Wigan.

The hosts had the better of the first half hour but trailed to Florent Malouda's effort at the interval.
And after Anelka's quick-fire double at the start of the second half, Salomon Kalou added a fourth.
Despite an even more comprehensive defeat, the performance of the Latics in the opening period was in stark contrast to their humbling 4-0 defeat to Blackpool seven days earlier.
They were first to every ball in midfield but could not turn that superiority into clear-cut chances.  Maynor Figureoa had a long-range drive palmed away by Petr Cech, who also did well to block a couple of strikes from Hugo Rodallega.
But the Czech goalkeeper was not required to do anything beyond what should be expected of him and Chelsea made them pay the price just after the half-hour mark.
Wigan claimed that Ashley Cole had fouled Charles N'Zogbia to give himself a free run on to Didier Drogba's pass. Cole's cross from the left found Frank Lampard, whose low drive was palmed away by Chris Kirkland, but only as far as Malouda, who rolled into an empty net.Ronnie Stam had another strike saved by Cech as Wigan looked for a way back before the interval. But the contest was finished within a few minutes of the restart.John Obi Mikel's long diagonal ball picked out Anelka and the Frenchman managed to find an angle inside the far post despite being forced wide.
And four minutes later, he grabbed a second when he helped Drogba's prod into the back of the net after Malouda had scampered on to Cech's huge clearance.Mauro Boselli had one effort ruled out for offside and also had a header saved.
Kalou made it four after Drogba burst through and squared for his fellow Ivorian to seal an easy win.
Kalou added a fifth in the final minute to underline Chelsea's power before Yossi Benayoun scored his first for the club to make it six.

Lineups:

Wigan Athletic: 01-Kirkland, 02-Gohouri, 03-Alcaraz, 04-McCarthy, 06-Thomas, 09-Boselli, 10-N'Zogbia, 20-Rodallega, 21-Diame, 23-Stam, 31-Figueroa.  Subs Used: 08-Watson, 16-McArthur, 17-Boyce

Chelsea: 01-Cech, 02-Ivanovic 03-Cole, 05-Essien, 08- Lampard, 11-Drogba, 12-Mikel, 15-Malouda, 26-Terry, 33-Alex, 39-Anelka.  Subs Used: 10-Benayoun, 19-Ferreira, 21-Kalou

Todays Other Scores:

Arsenal 6-0 Blackpool - AR- Walcott (3), Arshavin, Diaby, Chamakh

Birmingham City 2-1 Blackburn - BC- Gardner (2) - BR - Nzonzi

Everton 1-1 Wolves - EV- Cahill - WW- Ebanks-Blake

Stoke City 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur - SC- Fuller - TH- Bale (2)

West Brom 1-0 Sunderland - WBA- Odemwingie

West Ham 1-3 Bolton Wanderers - WH- Noble (pen) - BW- Upson o.g, Elmander (2)

North Korea 0 Ivory Coast 3

Scorers: Y.Toure (IVC), Romaric (IVC), Kalou (IVC)

Attendance: 34634

Yaya Toure and Romaric scored first-half goals while Salomon Kalou added one late on as Côte d'Ivoire rumbled over Korea DPR 3-0 in Nelspruit on Friday, but Portugal's 0-0 draw with Brazil ensured the elimination of the west Africans. With four points, the Elephants finish one behind the Portuguese in their second FIFA World Cup™, while Brazil top the group with seven and the Koreans go home after three defeats.

Going into the match knowing they needed to make up at least nine goals on the Portuguese, the Ivorians attacked from the start at a raucous Mbombela Stadium as Kader Keita forced a good save from Korea DPR goalkeeper Ri Myong Guk in the opening minute. The always-dynamic Gervinho then looked to have done enough to open the scoring in the 11th minute when he collected the ball on the byline and pulled it past the goalkeeper and across the face of an empty net, but no Ivorian was on hand to take advantage.

But the Elephants were ahead just three minutes later as full-back Arthur Boka's ball sliced through the defence and found Yaya Toure in space at the top of the area. The Barcelona man calmly brought it under control and curled a right-footed shot past the diving keeper. Midfielder Romaric ticked the outside of the post with a speculative shot shortly after and then doubled the lead in the 20th minute. Drogba made the goal with a fabulous bit of skill, holding off a defender, bringing the ball down and then smacking a shot off the underside of the bar. While appeals were made that the ball crossed the line, Romaric kept his concentration and coolly nodded the ball through a group of defenders.

When the Koreans threatened it was from the pace and industry of Japan-based striker Jong Tae Se on the counter or from free kicks, with captain Hong Yong Jo's curling effort in the 24th minute the best. But it was Côte d'Ivoire creating most of the opportunities, and Gervinho had two good ones before the half-time break. In the 38th minute, he broke onto a through-ball in the box but his shot skimmed the bar to his left with the goalkeeper at his mercy, and just before half-time, he could only loop his header from Drogba's cross at the goalkeeper.

The Asian side held onto the ball more in the second period, and Jong Tae Se again kept the desperate Elephants honest on the break with a low shot to Boubacar Barry's near post in the 51st minute. Drogba could have increased the Elephants' lead in the middle of the half with two headers but he failed to keep either on target.

Sven-Goran Eriksson brought on forwards Aruna Dindane and Salomon Kalou in the 64th minute in the quest for a bag-load more goals, but they left themselves more open at the back and Jong Tae Se had two good chances in 81st minute denied by desperate defending. Just a minute after that, Côte d'Ivoire found their third - just a consolation at that point - as Kalou managed to touch in Boka's cross ahead of the charging goalkeeper.