Two late goals from Romelu Lukaku secured Everton a place in the FA Cup last four at his former team’s expense, in a game that finished with both sides down to 10 men.
Lukaku’s brace brought some much needed quality to an otherwise ordinary game, though it was what happened shortly after his second that could have the greatest repercussions. Diego Costa was sent off for the first time in his Chelseacareer for two separate cautionable offences against Gareth Barry, though replays of the second suggested he might have bitten his opponent. He was not sent off for biting, just for pushing his head into Barry’s face, but if the Everton player makes a complaint he could be in big trouble. Barry was booked for his part in the scuffle, then he too received a second yellow for a later foul on Cesc Fàbregas.
Chelsea were able to field a decent side after all the injury scares. Eden Hazard was missing but Costa was surprisingly restored after having to leave the field early against Paris Saint-Germain in midweek. He seemed in the mood too, picking up the game’s first booking after just 10 minutes for spikily getting in Barry’s face a little too literally, then tumbling in the area in search of a penalty from Phil Jagielka’s challenge when he would probably have been better staying on his feet.
Costa even took his gloves off midway through the first half, though after a feisty opening the game had settled down a bit by then. Chances were few in the first half-hour. Kenedy could have opened the scoring after a run down the left but shot too high when he got a sight of goal, Lukaku could not quite reach a promising Séamus Coleman cross at the other end after Leighton Baines had done well to find his fellow full-back in space.
That was about it for first-half goalmouth action until a couple of minutes before the interval, when Joel Robles was obliged to make the first save of the game, tipping a free-kick from Willian over the bar after Jagielka had been penalised and booked for a high challenge on Fábregas.
There was still time for another set-to between Costa and Barry before the teams turned round, and even the first Everton shot on target, though Tom Cleverley really required more power and direction to trouble Thibaut Courtois.
Roberto Martínez had promised an exciting game to welcome the new major shareholder Farhad Moshiri on his first visit to Goodison, and this was not it. This was far from it, in fact. Though fiercely contested the first half never hit any heights and will not live long in the memory. This quarter-final was billed as the last chance of silverware for both clubs, and that was actually what it looked like. Two mid-table clubs who have both had disappointing seasons
Though Fàbregas had been popping up purposefully all afternoon and trying to find his forward runners Everton allowed him far too much time and space on the ball and he found Costa almost instinctively, only for the striker to take the ball slightly too wide in avoiding Robles and leave himself an almost impossible shooting angle.At least Everton showed some more attacking conviction in the second half to bring the crowd to life. Ramiro Funes Mori headed over the bar from a Cleverley corner then Ross Barkley found room to manoeuvre on the right and almost sent Lukaku clear. It was Chelsea who came closest to scoring first, though, and possibly Costa should have done better than roll the ball harmlessly across the face if goal after Fàbregas had picked him out as he did so often last season. In the context of an uneventful game the chance was a big one.
After an hour the game had finally developed into something approaching a full-blooded end-to-end Cup tie, with Aaron Lennon showing up well for Everton and Barkley ending a promising move with a mis-hit shot into the crowd. A perfectly weighted through ball from Cleverley brought a glimmer of a chance for Lukaku, who saw the possibility straight away but was foiled by an even quicker reaction from Courtois, who left his line intelligently to get a hand to the ball and clear the danger.
Just as Martínez was preparing to send Gerard Deulofeu on to extend Everton’s attacking options, Lukaku opened up Chelsea on his own. Though Barkley found him in space on the left there was still no clear sight to goal, yet the former Chelsea player muscled into the penalty area despite César Azpilicueta’s desperate attempts to pull him back, then turned Gary Cahill one way and then the other before finding Courtois’s bottom corner. A goal of such quality after so much mediocrity seemed certain to settle the game, but five minutes later Everton had another. Chelsea lost the ball from a throw-in in their own half, Barry diligently winning possession and finding Lukaku, who ran in from the right this time and found Courtois’s opposite corner just as unnerringly.
All that was remained was for Costa to see red for giving Barry another facial in retaliation to a heavy challenge from the Everton player. Barry himself was also booked, then dismissed for a second foul on Fàbregas moments later, though Costa will be the player in trouble if his action in pushing his head into his opponent’s face included a sneaky bite.
