Saturday, January 26, 2008

CHELSEA BEAT THE BLUES

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Nicholas Anelka and Shaun Wright Phillips came into the party for Chelsea against Wigan athletic in the FA cup.Nicolas Anelka proved why Chelsea recently paid 15 million pounds for his services by scoring his first goal for the FA Cup holders to steer the Blues into the last 16 of this year's competition.

Anelka's predatory instincts came to the fore in the 51st minute of a mediocre fourth-round tie, before he then set up Shaun Wright-Phillips for the game-killing second goal eight minutes from time.

Wigan substitute Antoine Sibierski did score a stunning strike in the 87th minute, before Marcus Bent almost forced an unlikely replay when he rattled the crossbar in injury-time.

But in the end it was a comfortable night's work for Chelsea, whose current unbeaten run stretches to 10 matches - despite the fact they continue to be without an array of stars.

Frank Lampard, John Terry, Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko are all out through injury, while Mikel Jon Obi, Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Michael Essien are on African Nations Cup duty.

With Ashley Cole also absent - perhaps as a result of recent revelations about his private life - it is a case of continuing to mend and make do for boss Avram Grant.

But Chelsea continue to find a way to win, even if the opening 45 minutes were disjointed by their standards as defences dominated - neither Chris Kirkland nor Petr Cech made any kind of meaningful save in the first half.

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