Everton 0 Chelsea 1 By Graeme Holmes

We just don’t seem to be able to be good enough to compete with the Top 3 when it actually comes down to it. Last night they won all the loose balls, all the deflections and keeper parries fell to them and maybe it was a bit more than just good luck. At times it looked like they had an extra man as they chased and harried for every ball, and they also used the ball well and broke in numbers. I thought our defence was reasonably solid, but the midfielders found it difficult to get behind them – plenty of passing around but nothing too penetrating

Arteta seems to struggle against the top sides and Cahill wasn’t in it at all. We were just putting high balls into the box at times which was pointless as we had no height or muscle in the box. If one of the scrambles had gone in it might have made a difference, but we certainly missed Yakubu’s presence in the box and his ability to hold the ball up and bring others into play, and Pienaar would have given us something down the left that we didn’t have.

I thought Johnson was absolute rubbish again – he can't control the ball or hold it up, and he just loses it every time the ball goes near him. He isn’t a bad finisher when the ball is played ahead of him and he can run onto it, but the rest of his game is fairly average. I would also question the substitutions – thought Fernandes went out of the game in the 2nd half, so the 1st sub should have been for him, and then Vaughan for Johnson – bit pointless putting Johnson wide right and completely losing our shape.

So out of both cups in 3 weeks and now just Europe and 4th place to go for. I think we had chances over the 2 legs but failed to capitalise and you have to do that against one of the Big 3. Most notably when Chelsea went down to 10 men in the 1st leg, we were on top, scored, and then just seemed to settle for 1-1 and then let them start playing again. The goal was sloppy to concede, and probably a foul, but we were capable of taking a lead into the 2nd Leg and didn’t capitalise. It's also a shame that we couldn’t do it for our fans, because Chelsea’s pitiful away following was nothing like what we took to their place, and not what you would expect for a semi final. Graeme Holmes

Moyesy says: "I can't lie we are really disappointed and down because we didn't go through. But we are pleased with the players' attitude and the way they went about it. They tried to make it happen but on the night we couldn't make it happen. We played well enough in the two legs but it wasn't to be. If you want to get into cup finals it is that small gap we need to fill. I don't think we could have done any more, a couple of things in the box didn't fall for us. It could have been good defensive play by Chelsea, poor positional play by us, or maybe it was just one of those nights." (23/01/08)

* A minutes Silence for former player Wally Fielding.

* 2-0 to everton, tiny & AJ with the goals. Chelski will bottle it! Paul Coles

* 3-1 Everton (Johnson, Neville and Cahill). One goal down at halftime, but 3 goals in the last 20 minutes to send the Toffee fans into heaven. Gerry Quinn

* 2-0 win and through 3-2 on aggregate. AJ with 2. Fenners

* 1-0 Blues and go through in extra time. Moff

* A classic. 3-1 to Everton, AJ with one and Tiny with a brace. Wembley here we come, bring it on. Squizzer

* 1-0 TO THE LADS CAHILL THROUGH ON AWAY GOALS. Rhodris-dad

Everton are hoping for a repeat of the famous Bayern Munich night with the fans right behind the team from the kick off. We will have to do it without The Yak, and Joey Yobo from the first leg, but we will have Arteta and Osman back to play the footy. Ossie is a doubt however along with Manny, AJ, and Hibbo, but all should be ok and will undergo fitness tests in the morning. Two one down from the first leg, the Blues have it all to do, but with 37,000 plus Evertonians singing their hearts out, and the players playing their socks off, it is a battle we can win.

Moyesy says: "The mood in the squad is good, we know we have been playing very well although we've picked up a couple of results lately where we've had to scrap and squeeze it out. Against Chelsea, we'll need to have as good a performance as we have had against any other team this season. It's that level that will probably be required to get us through.

But what we don't want to do now is to freeze against Chelsea. We must be composed and patient on the ball. We have played with flair and quality and now we need to show that at the very top level against a team like Chelsea. The group of players I have now, I want them to taste success and feel as though they are at a club that are driving towards winning things and it can become more often and more regular. If we can get to the final I hope it will signal a new era for the club. It probably means more to us than it does to them with what they have won, it can be our night. But it will take everything we have. We are the underdogs."

Moyesy says: "It’s going to need a monumental performance by us. But we’ve had some really impressive performances this season against the big teams – we haven’t beat them as yet – but we’ve had some big performances when you look at the Arsenal game and the Man Utd game, so something has got to give. The final is a long, long way away yet. We’ve got a very hard semi-final to get through first, so to talk about winning the cup is too premature for me. All I can think about is trying to get through a very difficult second leg of a cup tie. Everton have been in a position like this many, many times before so it’s not new to the club. It’s not as if Everton Football Club have never been in a semi-final or a final so we shouldn’t be surprised by what we’ve produced so far."

Mikel Arteta says: “To get to a final with Everton would be so special. It has been too long since this club was at a major final and we want to put that right. It would be massive for everyone if we could do that. Getting to a final is really important for a club’s development. Winning also guarantees you a place in Europe as well. It is just a question of small details. The big teams are used to it and they know how to get the results they need to get to finals.

We have to believe that we can do the same. Hopefully we can deal with the pressure. I’ve won a couple of things before and the feeling is amazing. If you win, all the effort you have put in to get there comes through your body. You feel unbelievable and we all want to experience that here. We know how big it is going to be. It is going be absolutely massive, one of the biggest I have ever played for this club. We will be doing everything that we can to make sure we go through. It was so disappointing to miss the first leg. It was a really difficult game to watch. We had some players missing but now we have nearly everyone fit and though we lost the first leg, we still have a really big chance to go through. So let’s just go and do it.

We will give Chelsea a lot of respect. They deserve it as they are a great team with great players. They have players who can win a game for them, even when they are not playing well. We will have to be careful. But we are very enthusiastic and we want to do it.”

Kipper's XI To Start: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Lescott, Valente, Osman, Carsley, Neville, Arteta, Cahill, Johnson,

Everton from: Howard, Wessels, Hibbert, Neville, Jagielka, Lescott, Stubbs, Valente, Osman, Cahill, Carsley, Arteta, Gravesen, Johnson, Vaughan, Anichebe.

IF ANY EVERTON FAN WANTS TO WRITE A REPORT OF ANY OF THIS SEASON'S GAMES, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DO SO. JUST E-MAIL IT TO info@bluekipper.com AND WE WILL PUT IT ON THE SITE.

* I don't care with this one, who gets the first goal, as long as it Everton's. So my bet is nay a wish to get a campaign to keep Rafa Beneath Us at Analfield as he is doing a fantastic job, along with those Yankee boys. Blues for Wembley believe, just believe.

A blow for Chelsea is that Shaun Wright-Phillips is set to miss out after sustaining an ankle injury in the league win over Birmingham at the weekend. Frank Lampard has been ruled out as have John Terry and Andriy Shevchenko.

Chelsea squad: Cech, Cudicini, Hilario, Belletti, Ferreira, Carvalho, Ben-Haim, Alex, Bridge, A Cole, J Cole, Pizarro, Anelka, Malouda, Lampard, Ivanovic, Sidwell, Ballack, Sinclair.

Report From The First Leg At Stamford Bridge