Chelsea has already shown it is capable of easily overcoming the
latest obstacle to an unlikely league and cup double.
The Blues take on Aston Villa in the FA Cup semifinals at
Wembley on Saturday, just two weeks after routing the same opponent
7-1 in the Premier League.
Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti and Aston Villa's Martin
O'Neill face very different selection problems ahead of their
teams' meeting in the FA Cup semifinals on Saturday.
O'Neill is hoping central defender Richard Dunne and midfield
lynchpin James Milner recover from Achilles' problems to play at
Wembley, while Ancelotti has too many in-form players to fit into
Chelsea's attack.
With leading scorer Didier Drogba set to start up front,
Ancelotti has Joe Cole, Nicolas Anelka, Salomon Kalou and Florent
Malouda all available for the two wide positions.
Premier League leader Chelsea beat Villa 7-1 two weeks ago,
and that was with first-choice central defender Dunne in Villa's
lineup.
That result severely dented the Midlanders' chances of
qualifying for European competition and improved Chelsea's goal
difference in the fight with Manchester United and Arsenal for the
Premier League title.
But Ancelotti is taking nothing for granted.
"Martin O'Neill is a very good psychologist and a very good
coach and they will play differently," Ancelotti said. "We must
forget that last game. We played very well but Saturday will be
different."
Villa only trailed 2-1 at halftime at Stamford Bridge
following a 44th-minute penalty and the score was skewed by four
goals in the last 28 minutes as the visitors tired.
"We conceded a couple of poor goals in the last half-hour of
the game when it was effectively over," O'Neill said. "It put a
damning light on things.
"There is no question that for a few days we were all pretty
despondent after the Chelsea match. But the great thing about it is
you get a chance pretty quickly to put things right."
Dunne pulled out of training Thursday but Milner should start
after he was rested for last weekend's 1-0 win at Bolton.
"He feels a lot better and that is very encouraging," O'Neill
said. "It was last week that he was feeling a bit sore so we
thought we would rest him up for the game at the Reebok Stadium.
"So those extra couple of days that he got, and the missing
out of the game against Bolton, has stood him in good stead."
The Villa players have already lost one final this season and
are anxious to make it to another and win the club's first trophy
since 1996.
Villa led Manchester United in February's League Cup final
before losing 2-1.
"The FA Cup itself has enough magic attached to it that to be
contesting the semifinal, with the chance of getting to Wembley for
the third time in the season, is incentive enough for us," O'Neill
said.
But while Villa is struggling with injuries, Chelsea has
already shown how it can play without key players.
Drogba, who scored in last year's 2-1 final win over Everton
and has 31 goals this season, was left on the bench for the team's
Premier League meeting but Frank Lampard struck four goals and
Malouda added two.
Tottenham and Portsmouth meet in the second semifinal on
Sunday, with Portsmouth hoping to set up a shot at becoming the
first club to win the cup and get relegated in the same season.
Middlesbrough reached the final in 1997 when it was demoted
and, like Portsmouth, went down partly because of a points
deduction.
Pompey is bottom of the Premier League and on the verge of
relegation after its financial problems incurred the deduction of
nine points.
Portsmouth's 2008 FA Cup title was its first in 58 years and
anticipated by only the most optimistic fans. A repeat would be
near miraculous after the small south coast club sold most of its
top players in an attempt to pay off huge debts.
With Portsmouth having lost twice to Spurs this season before
being hit by its current rash of injuries and suspensions,
Tottenham's biggest problem as it aims for a first FA Cup final
since 1991 may be complacency.
"We can't relax on the pitch and think that we'll win
anyway," Tottenham midfielder Luka Modric said. "That's not the way
we need to think about this game.
"We know they can cause us problems if we don't play well and
if we're not 100 percent. We know we are favorites but we have to
go out there and win."
