Chelsea closer to Arsenal after 1-3 win over West Bromwich

Ancelotti's men are decided to fight until the end. Chelsea got an important 1-3 win as visitors over West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns Stadium on Saturday.

West Bromwich scored the first goal by Peter Odemwingie, but Chelsea reacted thanks to Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Frank Lampard.

Spanish star Fernando Torres entered in the second half, but he still cannot score his first goal with the Blues, a fact that now is called the "Torres curse".

Chelsea remains in the third position of the Premier League, one point behind Arsenal and eight behind Manchester United.

Talented Frank Lampard On Ref After Red Card Reprieve

Chelsea talented footballer Franky Lampard was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Xabi Alonso on the hour mark during the Blues' 2-0 loss at the hands of Liverpool on Sunday.

The defeat was a massive blow in terms of the Premier League title race, but Lampard was handed a boost yesterday at the time the FA overturned his sending off, thus sparing him a three-match ban.

Lampard slid in on Alonso and the Spaniard was sent flying, but it was clear even without the aid of video replays that England star Lampard had got a large chunk of the ball.

Now able to look ahead to ahead to the weekend visit of Hull City, Lampard spoke to the Press Association of the red card, which was dished out by referee Mike Riley. "It's great that I can move on, but a shame that we lost the game because of it," he bemoaned.

"I presumed it would be rescinded anyway so I was quite confident about that.

"It was obviously a mistake, we all make mistakes. soccer players make mistakes just as much as anyone - and the referee did."

Under-fire Riley will not be in action this weekend, it has been revealed, after sustaining an undisclosed injury during the Liverpool win.

He and his assistants have also come under fire over Jose Bosingwa's kicking antics, but the full-back cannot be punished retroactively as the linesman saw the incident at the time.

Close to heaven: Chelsea reach the Champions League Final with a 3 - 2 win over Liverpool

Historical night for every blue fan, player, board member and supporters around the world. After many years of struggling, Chelsea reached the Champions League Final for the first time in history.

What's more, it will be the first European Cup final between two English clubs, and beating Manchester United to win the title will make it even more special.

Owner Roman Abramovich wasn't at Stamford Bridge to see his expensively assembled team beat Liverpool 3-2 in extra time to advance to the final on May 21, but United manager Alex Ferguson was.

Manchester United and Chelsea are also neck-and-neck in the Premier League. The Blues beat the Red Devils 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday to draw level on points with United, which leads on goal difference with two encounters to go.

"An all-English final. I think everyone's looking forward to it," Chelsea leader John Terry said. "They have been very good in the league. Also we matched them the other week and managed to defeat them here. All in all, they're playing very well. I think we're at the top of our game so in three weeks time it's going to be a very tough game."

It's important to notice that even though it's the first time two English teams have made it to the final, there are no English coaches.

The last Englishman to lead a team to a European Cup triumph was Liverpool's Joe Fagan in 1984. That was at a time when English coaches did well in the competition with seven triumphs in eight seasons, including victories from Liverpool's Bob Paisley (three), Nottingham Forest's Brian Clough (two), Aston Villa's Tony Barton and Fagan between 1977 and '84.

Manchester United has had the veteran Ferguson in charge for 22 years, and the Scot has led the Red Devils to nine Premier League triumphs and five FA Cups and is now chasing his second Champions League title to go with the one he won in 1999.

As for Avram Grant, he is the former coach of Israel who has led Chelsea to its first Champions League final after the man he replaced, Jose Mourinho, failed three times. Mourinho moved to Stamford Bridge in June 2004, a month after leading FC Porto to a triumph in the competition.

And although he won two league titles in a row, Chelsea's first in half a century, portuguese Mourinho couldn't capture a European success and the club replaced him in September. Now, the fact that two English teams are playing each other thousands of miles away in Moscow for a major prize is good timing.

Now talking about the semifinal match, we can say it was one of the most exciting games of the year. Didier Drogba scored the first goal that seemed to assure their ticket to the final. But Fernando Torres kept the emotion alive up to the 90th minute.

In the extra time, the referee downed a goal scored by Kalou, but just two minutes later a penalty shot was converted by Frank Lampard. His celebration is now inprinted in the memory of every blue fan.

Drogba appeared again to score the third one, to unleash the emotion of every Chelsea supporter. Babel scored a goal for Liverpool, but that was not enough to save his team.

Now Chelsea will face Manchester United knowing all about Cristiano Ronaldo's dribbling and shooting skills and how to stop him from adding to his 38 league and cup goals this season. It also has to break open the solid defensive partnership of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.

Because it played Chelsea on Saturday, Manchester United is aware of the dangers posed by Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Michael Ballack and the defensive strengths of Terry and Ricardo Carvalho.

Ferguson's team has a 65-41 record against Chelsea with 44 draws. But the last time they met in a final, Chelsea edged Man. United 1-0 in last season's FA Cup at Wembley.

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Lampard avoids red card ban

Surprisingly, Chelsea player Frank Lampard avoided Tuesday a three-game ban. Indeed, the Football Association (FA) overturned the red card the England international received when he was sent-off in the 4-0 victory away to West Ham last weekend.

The talented yet polemic Lampard, who'd opened the scoring against his old club at Upton Park, was sent-off following a clash with Luis Boa Morte.

However, referee Peter Walton told an FA regulatory commission he and his assistant made a mistake.

that's why the commission had to decide if the officials had made a "serious and obvious" error in dismissing the 29-year-old. The same commission also had to take into account the UEFA guideline that while endangering an opponent warrants a red card, contact on or above the neck is deemed to be violent conduct.

So, Lampard's reprieve allows him to play against Barnsley in the FA Cup and the Premier League games against Derby and Sunderland.

In fact, by appealing Chelsea risked Lampard's ban being extended to four games had the verdict gone against the Stamford Bridge club.

We must remember that the same situation happened to Middlesbrough's Jeremie Aliadiere last week when a disciplinary panel rejected what they said was a "frivolous" appeal against a red card.

But correct Tuesday's ruling may be under the rules, it is bound to fuel the suspicion expressed by Middlesbrough chief executive Keith Lamb that there is one rule for 'big' clubs such as Chelsea FC and another for the rest of the teams.

By the way, Chelsea's next match sees them up against Olympiakos in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.