Friday, May 14, 2010

Chelsea vs Portsmouth FA Cup Final 2010: Time and Preview

Defending champion Chelsea takes on Portsmouth at the Wembley Stadium on 15 May in the final of the FA Cup 2010. Considering their recent form, the two teams now stand on two different spheres in English football. Chelsea clinched their first premier league title in 4 seasons last week, while Portsmouth finished the league at the bottom, and thus, relegating to League Championship next season.

Match: Chelsea vs Portsmouth; FA Cup 2010 Final

Date: 15 May 2010

Venue: Wembley Stadium, London, England

Kick off: 15:00 GMT (Indian time 20:30)

Live TV and Radio: Super Sports 3, BBC Radio 5 Live

Chelsea has been in sparkling form following their 8-0 demolition of Wigan Athletic last week with which they staved off the threat from Manchester United in the title race. Didier Drogba with 29 goals won the league’s golden boot, while Frank Lampard made highest 17 assists in the season. Blues defense is strong enough in the presence of Terry, Ashley Cole and Ivanovic.

Portsmouth, however, can find some positives in their performance in FA Cup 2010. Despite their poor run in premier league, they could manage to reach the FA Cup final. They know that a victory over Chelsea would create a history on Saturday as it would be considered as one of the greatest shocks in the history of the tournament.

Portsmouth has a number of injury problems including key midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng. Only a miracle could make him available for the Chelsea clash as he is yet to recover from his ankle injury.

With fracture in back, midfielder Jamie O'Hara doubtful. Hermann Hreidarsson and Danny Webber are out of action for a long time and will remain so for this match too.

Aruna Dindane, Marc Wilson, Hassan Yebda and Lenny Sowah are all doubtful for Saturday’s FA Cup final. However, star defender Tal Ben-Haim got over his groin injury. Nadir Belhadj and Richard Hughes are also available for the match as both the players have recovered from hamstring injury.

Chelsea, on the other hand, does not have any new injury concern ahead of the game. Captain John Terry was doubtful, but is now to make it to the first eleven.

Michael Essien, Jose Bosingwa, Ricardo Carvalho and John Obi Mikel are currently out of action and there is no possibility for any of them to be available for Saturday’s match.

Branislav Ivanovic is doubtful with his knee problem, but Ancelotti may take a late call on the defender. Paulo Ferreira will take Ivanovic’s place, if he can not make a timely recovery.

Chelsea Probable Squad: Peter Cech, John Terry, Alex, Ashley Cole, Branislav Ivanovic/ Paulo Ferreira, Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard, Florent Malouda, Salomon Kalou, Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba

Portsmouth Probable Squad: David James, Steve Finnan, Ricardo Rocha, Tal Ben Haim, Vanden Borre, Aaron Mokoena, Nadir Belhadj, Richard Hughes, Hayden Mullins, John Utaka, Frédéric Piquionne.



2 comments:

  1. golden boot not ball mate

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chelsea is going to lose the fa cup finals

    ReplyDelete