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Anelka Off The Mark As Chelsea Edge Wigan

Wigan Athletic 1-2 Chelsea

Nicolas Anelka scored one and made one as Chelsea overcame Wigan to advance to round five of the FA Cup.

Nicolas Anelka made the difference in this largely disappointing FA Cup fourth round tie at the JJB Stadium.

After a truly drab opening 45 minutes, the visitors took the lead as their new £15m man stabbed home Belletti’s through ball.

Shaun Wright-Phillips doubled Chelsea’s lead late on before a stunning goal from Antoine Sibierski ensured an entertaining final few minutes.

First Half

The fans clearly couldn’t be bothered with this game, perhaps due to it being televised (though why this match got the TV nod over Liverpool vs. Havant & Waterlooville only the BBC know). But despite the half empty stands both managers showed their commitment to the cup by selecting strong sides.

Avram Grant named the same XI that won at Everton: a staggered midfield formation with Makélélé holding and Anelka as a lone target man. Unsurprisingly, there was no spot on the bench for Ashley Cole post hairdresser-gate. Steve Bruce, meanwhile, replaced the recently departed Danny Landzaat with Ryan Taylor.

Chelsea could, and perhaps should have had the ball in the net within 50 seconds: Sidwell pierced the Latics defence, finding Joe Cole who beat Kirkland but fired wide. Taylor then tested Cech down the field. Chelsea maintained possession for large spells but found ball control tricky on the churned JJB surface.

Joe Cole exhibited occasional moments of skill, at one point dancing past numerous challenges to find Anelka, who stumbled in the box and rightly received no penalty. Wigan, perhaps wary of the visitors’ ability to break at pace, sat incredibly deep, enticing Chelsea to mount further pressure. But the Latics almost created something as Heskey played through Marcus Bent – the excellent Wayne Bridge was alert to the danger.

The home side attempted forays down the wings, trying to launch crosses into the box, but Chelsea’s fullbacks – impressive both pushing forward and tracking back – continuously harrowed and closed down the play. Wigan did have limited joy down the middle, however, as Bent blazed over and Alex then felled Brown ahead of what had appeared a promising move. That was the last meaningful play of this egalitarian but incredibly dull 45 minutes.

Second Half

Chelsea attacked from the off, a cross into a crowded box almost finding Sidwell.A goal looked to be on the cards, and it duly came in the shape of Nicolas Anelka. Belletti’s super ball from deep was latched onto by the Frenchman, who sprang the offside trap and poked his volley past the advancing Kirkland - his first Chelsea goal and a marvellous one at that. Wigan were visibly annoyed, remonstrating that the goal was offside, but replays showed that was not the case.

Nonetheless, the Latics almost struck back through Heskey, whose shot on the turn from a narrow angle forced Cech to save with his legs. The game remained ugly, but an off-the-ball incident involving Michael Brown, Claude Makélélé and an alleged elbow threatened to make it nasty. The entire Chelsea bench were up in arms, but no action was taken; replays suggested the Blues midfielder perhaps made more of the incident than strictly necessary and fortunately the bad blood continued no further.

Substitute Koumas bent a free-kick right at Cech, but as Wigan pushed for the equaliser they left themselves vulnerable to counter-attacks. Anelka had already been thwarted several times by goalkeeper Kirkland but went clear after out-muscling Kevin Kilbane on the ball. One-on-one with the keeper, Anelka squared for the unmarked Wright-Phillips to slot home.

Game over? Not quite – just as Wigan appeared out of ideas Koumas played a great ball into the chest of substitute Antoine Sibierski, who turned and volleyed with perfect power, pace and precision past Cech and into the top corner. Tremendous. With only minutes remaining, the game then sprang to life as Wigan chased an unlikely replay, and they almost got it as Bent’s flying shot clipped the top of the bar. But it was not to be as Chelsea held on to claim a win they merited.

Line-ups:

Wigan (4-4-2): Kirkland – Melchiot, Bramble, Scharner, Kilbane – Valencia, Brown, Palacios (Sibierski 77), Taylor (Koumas 58) – Bent, Heskey (Aghahowa 85)

Subs not used – Pollitt, Boyce

Chelsea (4-1-2-2-1): Cech – Belletti, Carvalho, Alex, Bridge – Makélélé – Wright-Phillips, Sidwell – J Cole, Malouda (Ferreira 80) – Anelka (Pizarro 90)

Subs not used – Cudicini, Sinclair, Ben-Haim

Goals:

0-1 Anelka, 53 (Belletti)
0-2 Wright-Phillips, 82 (Anelka)
1-2 Sibierski, 87 (Koumas)

Cards:

Yellow: Bramble, Scharner, Palacios, Aghahowa / Alex, Carvalho

Attendance: 14,166

Derby Pay For Penalty Miss

Derby went one up just before the half-hour mark against the run of play, and Blackburn were looking doomed to another defeat when Ryan Nelsen conceded a penalty a few minutes later. Steve Howard stepped up but his sub-standard penalty was saved by Brad Friedel, and within 90 seconds Roque Santa Cruz had drawn Rovers level.

David Bentley (pictured) put in a Man of the Match performance, which was capped with the match-winning goal from 25 yards out just before the break. Derby fought admirably from then on, but were ultimately unable to break through Blackburn's defenses, with both sides having chances to kill the game in the second half.

First Half

The game began quietly, but Blackburn looked the stronger side, with David Bentley and Roque Santa Cruz posing the main threats.

The latter did well from a throw-in to nod the ball on to Benni McCarthy, whose tame shot was saved, as his goal drought now stretches to nine games.

On 20 minutes Blackburn had a goal ruled out, with David Bentley doing exceptionally well on the left to eventually cross in for Santa Cruz to head home, but the cross had unfortunately curled out of play while in the air before curling back in for the Paraguayan to knock in.

It was Derby who took a shock lead on 27 minutes when a ball skimmed into the area was touched on neatly by Giles Barnes for captain Matt Oakley to hammer home through the legs of Brad Friedel.

Derby sought to double their advantage, as they were now playing with a confidence not oft-associated with this season’s bottom club, and as Miller charged at Nelsen, the Blackburn man was booked for blocking him off.

A few minutes later Nelsen could have had his second yellow of the game and his third red of the season when his trailing leg took Miller down in the area. He avoided the booking but not the penalty, as Blackburn’s miserable run looked set to continue.

However, Brad Friedel guessed right and went low to his right as an average penalty from Steve Howard was crucially saved. Eddie Lewis was booked for an overzealous follow-up which saw him clash with Friedel, much to the disdain of the goalkeeper’s team-mates

That served as an omen, within 90 seconds Blackburn were level. David Bentley did brilliantly on the right hand side and his cross was brought down well by Benni McCarthy, his snap-shot was saved by Price, who could only watch as goal-machine Roque Santa Cruz tapped in the rebound.

Within three minutes Blackburn were in front, Tugay intercepting well, then McCarthy and Mokoena showing good strength to maintain possession and Bentley, from 25 yards out, only needed that little bit of space to drill it into the bottom corner.

Derby did have a chance to draw level before the interval, when a corner floated in was struck not once but twice by Matt Oakley – the second being well saved by Brad Friedel.

Second Half

Paul Jewell made a substation, with Leacock being substituted for Benny Feilhaber.

It was the substitute who fashioned the first chance of the second half as he ran at Blackburn and his long-range shot was well-saved by Friedel.

Morten-Gamst Pedersen found himself in space a few minutes later, but opted to go alone when a fuming Benni McCarthy had space in the middle.

It went straight back down the other end with Lewis threading an excellent through-ball to Kenny Miller, but his first touch wasn’t quite perfect and Emerton was in quickly to snuff out the danger.

The action continued with David Bentley breaking for Blackburn on 53 minutes, he laid it off for Benni McCarthy, who failed to get it out of his feet with his first touch and his shot was saved.

Amidst the end-to-end action Mokoena was lucky to avoid being sent off; he was booked for a high challenge and referee Peter Walton was lenient when a repeat offence occurred moments later.

The game slowed down, with both sides now looking to hit each other on the break, and both were found wanting with poor touches in the final third squandering many of the chances created.

Derby began pressing around 70 minutes but failed to pierce the Blackburn defense, and they broke excellently on 74 minutes, with Warnock delivering a ball across that went all the way to Bentley on the other side, whose cross was headed by Roque Santa Cruz and tipped over excellently by Price.

Santa Cruz had another weaker effort cleared off the line from the corner following a scrap for the ball, and Bentley then cut inside from the right to rifle a left-footed shot against the bottom of the near post as Derby could count themselves lucky to still be in the game at all.

Derby were the side pressing for the final 15 minutes but failed to fashion a genuine chance out of it, as Blackburn held on for a crucial victory.

Line-ups:

Derby County (4-1-3-2): Price – Mears, Davis, Johnson (Fagan, 59), McEveley – Leacock (Feilhaber, 46) – Barnes, Lewis, Lewis – Howard, Miller (Macken, 79)

Unused Substitutes: Hinchliffe, Teale

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Friedel – Emerton, Khizanishvili, Nelsen, Warnock – Bentley, Tugay (Dunn, 93), Mokoena, Pedersen (Olsson, 84) – McCarthy (Derbyshire, 87), Santa Cruz

Unused Substitutes: Brown, Berner

Goals

1-0 (Derby) Oakley, 271-1 (Blackburn) Santa Cruz, 391-2 (Blackburn) Bentley, 41

Missed Penalty: (Derby) Howard, 37

Bookings

(Blackburn) Nelsen, 32(Derby) Lewis, 37(Blackburn) Mokoena, 50(Blackburn) Warnock, 61

Referee: Peter Walton

Attendance: 30,048