Aston Villa-Chelsea si Tottenham-Portsmouth se bat pentru un loc in finala de pe Wembley.Ambele semifinale se vor juca pe noua arena construita in locul celebrului Wembley si vor fi transmise in Romania de postul de televiziune Sport Klub.

Sambata 10 aprilie 2010,ora 19:00,in direct pe Sport Klub

Aston Villa-Chelsea Londra

Aston Villa (4-4-2): Friedel; Cuéllar, Dunne, Collins, Warnock; A Young, Petrov, Downing, Milner; Carew, Agbonlahor.
Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Ferreira, Alex, Terry, Zhirkov; J Cole, Ballack, Lampard; Anelka, Drogba, Malouda.
Referee: Howard Webb. Matches (all competitions): 34. R: 4. Y: 123.

Routes

Villa: 3rd rd: Blackburn (h) W 3-1; 4th rd Brighton (h) W 3-2; 5th rd Crystal Palace (a) D 2-2; 5th rd replay (h) W 3-1; 6th rd Reading (a) W 4-2.
Chelsea: 3rd rd: Watford (h) W 5-0; 4th rd Preston (a) W 2-0; 5th rd Cardiff (h) W 4-1; 6th rd Stoke (h) W 2-0.

Tale of the Game

Villa do not need reminding of their 7-1 thrashing, at Stamford Bridge, a fortnight earlier and when they last met in the FA Cup, it was also at Wembley, with Roberto Di Matteo scoring the only goal of the 2000 final.

But this is the first time these teams have meet in the semi-finals of the competition since 1920 when Villa won 3-1 at Bramall Lane before beating Huddersfield in the final at Stamford Bridge.

The six meetings into between have produced four wins for Villa, one for Chelsea and a draw. Villa also beat Chelsea earlier this season in the Premier League, winning 2-1 at Villa Park.

James Milner is expected to return after being rested at the weekend with a slight Achilles injury. Nigel Reo-Coker, Wilfred Bouma and Marlon Harewood are on out but Emile Heskey undergoes a test on his ankle injury.

Chelsea should recall Didier Drogba form the start after the striker began at Old Trafford last weekend on the bench but came on to score his 31st goal of the season, twice as many as he scored in the previous two seasons combined.

But Ricardo Carvalho, Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Michael Essien and Jose Bosingwa are all still sidelined.

Stat of the Game: holders Chelsea are bidding for their third final in four years.

Betting Tip: Chelsea may not win 7-1 again but a 3-0 victory is possible with odds coming in at 9-1.

What they are saying:

Martin O’Neill: “The appetite for this game is even stronger having been to Wembley once this season. It is a great incentive for us. We lost the Carling Cup final and you could see by the second-half performance in the FA Cup quarter-final at Reading that there was a renewed determination to get back there again.”

Carlo Ancelotti on beating Villa 7-1 this season: “I’m sure it will be a different game. We will not think about that match. Aston Villa will play a different game, they will have a good direction, so we will pay attention. It is a semi-final of an important championship and they will be doing their best to win. Saturday will be different.”

Duminica 11 aprilie 2010,ora 18:00,in direct pe Sport Klub

Tottenham Hotspurs-Portsmouth

Portsmouth (4-1-2-1-2): James; Finnan, Rocha, Mokeana, Mullins; Basinas; Brown, Hughes; Utaka; Kanu, Piquionne.
Tottenham (4-4-2): Gomes; Walker, Dawson, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto; Bentley, Palacios, Modric, Bale; Defoe, Pavlyuchenko.
Referee : Alan Wiley (all competitions). Matches: 33. R: 5. Y: 108.

Routes

Portsmouth: 3rd rd Coventry (h) D 1-1; 3rd rd replay Coventry (a) W 2-1 aet; 4th rd Sunderland (h) W 2-1; 5th rd Southampton (a) W 4-1; 6th rd Birmingham (h) W 2-0.
Tottenham : 3rd rd Peterborough (h) W 4-0; 4th rd Leeds (h) D 2-2; 4th rd replay Leeds (a) W 3-1; 5th rd Bolton (a) D 1-1; 5th rd replay Bolton (h) W 4-0; 6th rd Fulham (a) D 0-0; 6th rd replay Fulham (h) W 3-1.

Tale of the Game

The links between these teams are huge. Harry Redknapp leads Tottenham two years after taking Portsmouth to the FA Cup semi-final win over WBA and final victory over Cardiff. In addition, his bench will include Kevin Bond and Joe Jordan, his coaches at Fratton Park.

And on the playing side, Spurs have former Portsmouth players Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Niko Kranjcar but another Younes Kaboul is cup-tied, having played for the opposition against Coventry and Sunderland in rounds three and four.

And Portsmouth have ex-Spurs players Michael Brown, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Ricardo Rocha but Jamie O’Hara, on loan from Spurs, will not be allowed to play.

In two Premier League meetings this season, Spurs have won both but in the game at Fratton Park, which Spurs won 2-1 in October, they had Defoe sent-off. And the return at Spurs last month saw Portsmouth finish with 10 men after suffering a succession of injuries.

Hermann Hreidarsson and Danny Webber both left on stretchers and are out for the rest of the season but David James, a Spurs target earlier in the season, should feature after he also failed to finish that game.

Defoe should start after coming on at Sunderland in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat, while Aaron Lennon was back in training but this game may have come too soon Spurs also check Michael Dawson.

Portsmouth’s injury list is worse, with Papa Bouba Diop and Hassan Yebda still out and Nadir Belhadj, Tommy Smith and Tal Ben Haim all undergoing tests.

Stat of the Game: Spurs are in their 18th FA Cup semi-final but first since 2001.

Betting Tip: Tottenham by a goal. Try 2-1 at 15-2.

What they are saying:

Redknapp: “It’s another big week, but its better being stuck at the bottom in a relegation battle. It’s a great week to look forward to and it’s enjoyable. We’ve had one defeat in 10 and are certainly playing well, the lads are bright and those who are fit have trained well this week.”

Avram Grant: “The players need to understand on the big occasions, they need to perform. It will be an event for us, but if want to be in the final, we will have to beat a very good team.

“It is not easy to play against Tottenham, but we want to make sure it will not be easy to play against us, like it has been in the last few league games.”