Chelsea edge past United courtesy solitary Demba Ba goal

Chelsea got their noses across the line with a 1-0 victory over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge in their FA Cup quarterfinal replay. A spectacular Demba Ba strike made sure that Chelsea will make their way to the semifinals of the FA Cup. Despite many chances for United in the twilight of the match, they blew their chances of a double by not finding the back of the net.

Chelsea went into the game with 6 changes to the side that lost at St. Mary’s two days earlier. Rafael Benitez assumed his seat on the bench in front of Frank Lampard and a frowning John Terry, who were the most prominent changes made by the manager with David Luiz and John Obi Mikel taking their places respectively. Fernando Torres, Yossi Benayoun and Victor Moses too found themselves out of favour, with Juan Mata, Oscar and Demba Ba starting instead.

Manchester United’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson had the luxury of leaving out Robin Van Persie, whilst Wayne Rooney was left out for the second straight United fixture, with British media reporting a groin injury. The United defence was given a face-lift, with only Chris Smalling retaining his position in the side from the 1-0 victory over Sunderland. Rio Ferdinand and Patrice made their comebacks, with the latter donning the captain’s armband with Nemanja Vidic missing out. Michael Carrick retained his place, with Nani replacing Shinji Kagawa.

With both sides appointing only stand-in captains, there was an interesting encounter on the cards. The first half hour of play saw both teams playing cautiously and making tentative attacks against each other. However, after crossing the half way mark, United seemed to change gears, raising their game by a notch, but it was Chelsea who had the better luck, creating the bulk of the chances. The first half concluded with a flurry of Chelsea corners, with David de Gea’s risen confidence evident as he caught the ball without any problem. Chelsea were let off the hook when Javier Hernandez’s shot was blocked by a special save by Petr Cech. Despite the demotivating booing from the Chelsea faithful, Rio Ferdinand shrugged off the minor setback to pull through the entire 90 minutes with a solid performance, which he has consistently shown this season, and in turn making his case for an England re-call.

Both teams came out for the second period in an upbeat mood, with an electric Chelsea posing a few questions to the United defence. Chelsea finally prevailed, when Juan Mata’s magnificent vision led to a fabulous volley into the back of the net by Demba Ba, giving de Gea no chance. With Chelsea in the lead, Ferguson turned to the flying Dutchman Robin Van Persie who came on for Tom Cleverley, who was deployed on the left wing to no avail. To speed up the change, Ryan Gigs was introduced for Nani, who seemed low on confidence following his controversial red card in the Champions League’s clash against Real Madrid. Chelsea were given a let off when Robin Van Persie missed a goal from point blank range, not once but twice. The first one involved a cross whipped in, with Van Persie sending it over the bar, and the second one being a header over the cross bar.

Finally, it would be safe to say that Manchester United simply did not do enough to force the situation against the London club. It was simply not their day. It is upto Sir Alex Ferguson now to rouse his team, shake off the defeat, and prepare them for the upcoming Manchester Derby, which many believe will be the fixture that determines the winner of the Premier League. As for Chelsea, they now head to Wembley to face Manchester City, in what will be a must watch encounter.