Carlo welcomes cup distraction

CHELSEA may have lacked the bite Fernando Torres could provide, but they showed enough spirit to maintain their grip on the FA Cup.

The Blues’ fourth-round tie at Everton was overshadowed by their attempts to sign Liverpool’s star striker but manager Carlo Ancelotti would speak only about the players already at the club.

Questions about Torres were off limits at Goodison Park on Saturday as Chelsea turned their attention back to on-field matters and their bid to win a third successive FA Cup.

And while Torres may have scored some crucial goals against them in recent years, their hopes were almost derailed by another striker who has a knack of hurting them.

Louis Saha found Chelsea’s net three times last season as well as after just 25 seconds of the 2009 FA Cup final, and he did so again with a firm header in the 62nd minute on Saturday.

That rewarded the Toffees for a superb start to the second half, but they could not add a crucial second goal during their spell in the ascendancy.

Donegal’s Seamus Coleman went closest when he forced a brilliant save from Petr Cech with a diving header and then had his attempt to turn in the rebound blocked by Michael Essien.

Chelsea made the most of the reprieve and broke forward to snatch a 75th minute equaliser from substitute Salomon Kalou and a replay at Stamford Bridge that will not take place for three weeks.

Ancelotti said: “We have to try to win the cup. Last year it was fantastic to win the competition and we will try to do the same this year.

“We wanted to win here, obviously, but the result is not bad because we were 1-0 down.

“We showed good spirit and attitude on the pitch and were able to draw.

“Now we look to the next game at home and move on.”

Chelsea, despite back-to-back Barclays Premier League wins, are still looking for the spark to reignite their season after falling 10 points behind the pace in the title race.

They at least welcomed midfield talisman Frank Lampard back from injury but the likes of Didier Drogba, who was limping towards the end, and Florent Malouda were again quiet.

For Everton, the FA Cup represents an opportunity to salvage something from a campaign which has failed to live up to expectations after much pre-season excitement.

With a replay at home, Chelsea will now be even stronger favourites to progress but Everton do not believe their chance has gone.

Midfielder Jack Rodwell, who made his first start in a month, said: “We have done well there before and it is a cup game, so anything can happen.

“We will have our game plan and we will be 100% confident. We will go there to win.

“It might bring the best out of us, we seem to raise our performance for the bigger games.”

First, Everton travel to Arsenal in the Premier League tomorrow while Chelsea head to Sunderland.

Before then comes tonight’s transfer deadline and the difference in the possible activity between the clubs is considerable.

Everton, with no money to spend, have been scouring the loan market with little success so far and manager David Moyes has all but admitted signings are unlikely now.

Chelsea on the other hand are thought to be considering an improved bid for Torres after their initial offer – believed to be worth £35million – was rejected but prompted the player to submit a transfer request.

EVERTON: Howard; Baines, Heitinga, Distin, Neville; Coleman, Bilyaletdinov, Arteta, Fellaini; Rodwell (Beckford 86); Saha.

CHELSEA: Cech; Ivanovic, A Cole, Bosingwa, Terry, Essien, Ramires, Lampard (Mikel 85), Malouda (Kalou 70); Drogba, Anelka.

Referee: H Webb.