By dixon9
March 20 2007

A possible place (with Blackburn’s permission) in what will be a historic first FA Cup final at the new Wembley could be the spoils for the victors of tomorrow evening’s tie.

Both London sides gave rests or short matches to key players for what should be a spectacular match tomorrow evening at White Hart Lane - Essien, Ballack, Lampard, Cole and Drogba for Chelsea and Berbatov, Lennon and Keane for Spurs.  The recently returned Robinson, absent from the Stamford Bridge tie, will obviously feature.

 

Essien was not even in the squad named for the Sheffield Utd encounter but looks likely to start tomorrow after suffering a knee injury during the first quarter final against the north London side at Stamford Bridge.

 

Further good news for Chelsea is that Mikel Obi is now eligible to return after completing a 4 match suspension and Boulahrouz now appears to be fully fit after a medium term injury coming through the Sheff Utd match with no problems.  Joe Cole unfortunately, is still injured but with the players available, Mourinho will have a host of options for the line-up tomorrow.

Martin Jol has revealed, albeit in jovial fashion, that the FA Cup is the one he would prefer to win even though his side remain in the latter stages of the UEFA Cup;

"I'd like to win the FA Cup first, then probably the Uefa Cup, then the year after the Championship!”

The Uefa Cup would be nice but you have to be realistic, there are big teams in there. If I had to make a choice now I would want to win all the Premiership matches and finish fifth."

Ballack has also revealed a special affection for Wembley;

I was lucky enough to play in the last game at Wembley, and that is something you can look back on when you're older.  Now I could play in the first game at the new Wembley, so it is very exciting and a great motivation.”

"Tottenham beat us 2-1 at their ground in the Premiership, so we want revenge. We love this cup."

 

With the return of Terry, I’m not expecting the recent marauding Spurs side to have as much success in attack as they did at Stamford Bridge.  I’m sure with Terry’s influence, the form of Carvalho, Makelele and now Essien in his accustomed midfield role instead of a naïve centre-half position, this should be more than enough to keep 30-40M rated Berbatov and co at bay. 

 

This is a match I would thoroughly recommend to the neutral – it will probably have everything – Skill, speed, intensity, atmosphere and all-round entertainment and the best of all - GOALS.  In fact, this tie has all the ingredients to be one of the matches of the season.

 

With reference to any revenge handbags of Parson’s Green from Spurs fans during that long walk on the Seven Sisters Road towards the lane, they’ll be too many Police I’m sure and football will win the day.

 

I’m going to stick my neck on the line and risk months of ridicule from Spurs fans by predicting the following:

 

Spurs 1 Chelsea 4 !

 

I’m expecting Shevchenko to shine in this one and get a hat-trick.  This will be a pulsating tie and I won’t be surprised if emotions get the better of some players and we get to see a few handbags towards the end of the match.

 

Tottenham (from): Robinson, Cerny, Chimbonda, Dawson, Rocha, Young-Pyo Lee, Stalteri, Ghaly, Jenas, Keane, Huddlestone, Malbranque, Mido, Defoe, Berbatov.

 

Chelsea (from): Cech, Cudicini, Hilario, Ferreira, Geremi, Diarra, Carvalho, Essien, Terry, Bridge, A Cole, Lampard, Makelele, Ballack, Drogba, Shevchenko, Kalou, Wright-Phillips, Boulahrouz, Mikel.

 

As a little taster, I make no apologoies for re-posting the highlights from the 3-3 encounter at the Bridge.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-16zVcD9YtA