Everton vs Chelsea FA Cup Final

Chelsea took a step closer to their quest of a triple cup haul this season. After Wednesdays 4-4 Champions League draw with Liverpool, Chelsea took on cross town rivals Arsenal in another tough battle. Arsenal took the lead through Theo Walcott, but Florent Malouda scored before half time to leave the teams level. Then in the 86th minute, Didier Drogba scored the winning goal after a huge blunder by Polish international keeper Lukasz Fabianski, the game finished 2-1.

That left Manchester United and Everton to battle for the other final spot. In what was to be one of the most boring games in FA Cup history (no exaggeration!), Everton secured the win after the game went to penalties. It will be Everton's first final appearance since 1995. Tim Howard turned out to be Everton's hero by saving the first 2 penalties, leaving Manchester United needing Everton to miss. That was not to be. One thing to note about the game was team that Alex Ferguson put out to start the game. With Macheda, Wellbeck, Fabio and Rafael Da Silva, Gibson, and Anderson starting, the average age of the United team was just over 22 years old (Ji-Sung Park was the second oldest player on the field at 27). This, of course, does not take away from the fact that Everton deserved to win.

The final will be played on May 30th 2009 at the new Wembley stadium. This will be the 3rd final at the new Wembley since it was rebuilt, and the 128th final of the world's oldest domestic football tournament. Last years final was won by Portsmouth, who beat Championship team Cardiff 1-0.

Captain Van Persie bags a brace in FA Cup win

Robin Van Persie helped Arsenal avoid a potential banana skin in their FA Cup tie with Plymouth today. With so many scalps in todays round of games, Arsenal will be pleased to have won comprehensively 3-1. Van Persie scored the first and third goals for the Gunners. With their dissapointing league form leaving them 10 points off the top, Arsenal will be looking to make the final of the FA Cup for the first time since they won the tournament in 2005.

In todays game, Van Persie was wearing Adidas Predator Powerswerve White Metallic/Metallic Silver/Black. In recent weeks, including his goal versus Liverpool two weeks back, he wore the Indigo/silver/pool version. These are two of three new designs Adidas has released recently.The Powerswerve range is one of the top cleats on the market at the moment, battling with the Nike Mercurial Vapor IV range.The Powerswerve is a very classy cleat, with many advantages over other top brands. For instance, the PowerPulse insole, that has an additional 10grams of Tungsten, adds increased shot power by sending the Tungsten from back to front of the cleat as you swing through.The introduction of SmartFoam technology and a re-designed PowerPulse system gives this boot increased ball spin for accuracy and masses of power when you need it. Weighing in at 11.2 oz. with PowerPulse, or 10 oz. without.

In other FA Cup news, Mark Hughes and his Man City side were humiliated in a 3-0 home loss to Notthingham Forest. Chelsea were held at home 1-1 to a last minute goal by Southend. Premier League new boys Stoke City were beaten 2-0 to lowly Hartlepool United, while Conference side Torquay United pulled off a good 1-0 win over Championship side Blackpool.