LONDON—Defending FA Cup champions Chelsea fought off a resilient Aston Villa to reach the final with a 3–0 victory on Saturday.

The breakthrough came midway through the second half with a goal from Didier Drogba. Late goals from Florent Malouda and Frank Lampard made the final score more flattering to Chelsea than was actually the case.

Villa seemed to have learnt their lesson from their last meeting with Chelsea two weeks ago, which saw them lose 7–1.

Villa’s efforts nearly got them a breakthrough when Gabriel Agbonlahor was clumsily brought down by Jon Mikel Obi in the box. The penalty was denied leaving manager Martin O’Neill fuming on the touch line.

O’Neill was hoping to reach his first FA Cup final since his days as a player but instead it was Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti who will be there in his first year in the English League.

The fluidity of the play was hampered by a terrible surface at Wembley Stadium. The Wembley surface had been re-laid 10 times this season already, the last being for England’s international with Egypt a month ago.

Players struggled to keep their feet on both sides but Chelsea seemed to be impacted worse with their attacking options dampened. Joe Cole came the closest in the first half when he cut in from the left side to fire just wide.

Villa made their best efforts to clamp down on the attacking play of Lampard down the middle and Cole and Malouda on either wing.

This game featured the second big penalty shout turned down for Villa. The first came in the Carling Cup final when Manchester United’s Nemanja Vidic was not sent off for being the last defender on a penalty foul.

Villa threw men forward in the final moments of the game leaving them vulnerable at the back for which they paid the price, conceding two late goals.

Tottenham 0, Portsmouth 2

One day after Portsmouth assured themselves of relegation from the English Premier League, they unexpectedly overcame Tottenham in the FA Cup semifinal in extra time.

On the half-hour mark, Peter Crouch generated a powerful shot that was theatrically saved by David James. The Wembley surface played as much a troublesome role in this semifinal as well, affecting the run of the match.

Frederic Piquionne had most of Portsmouth’s chances, coming close three times in the first half.

The Frenchman took until extra time to make his mark on the match when Tottenham defender Michael Dawson lost his footing and Piquionne was quick to pounce on the incoming ball in the 99th minute.

Spurs thought they had drawn the game level when Crouch bundled over the ball only for it to be ruled no good, as Niko Kranjcar was adjudged to have fouled James.

Spurs then threw men forward and Vedran Corluka got into shooting position only to be denied by a superb James save.

Wilson Palacios brought down Aruna Dindane and former Tottenham star Kevin-Prince Boateng drilled the spot kick into the net in the 117th minute.

Portsmouth could now go onto win the FA Cup, being the first relegated team to do so. At the same time they could find themselves paying out performance bonuses which would ironically dig them deeper into their financial crisis.

The final will be played at Wembley on Saturday, May 15.

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