Grant hopes for speedy Anelka conclusion

Chelsea boss Avram Grant hopes to complete the signing of Nicolas Anelka before Saturday’s clash with Tottenham.

Grant is desperate to recruit Anelka with tonight’s 2-1 Carling Cup semi-final first leg victory over Everton once again highlighting their lack of firepower.

The Blues, missing Andriy Shevchenko and Didier Drogba to injury and Salomon Kalou to the African Nations Cup, were once again forced to rely on the disappointing Claudio Pizarro.

Negotiations to take Frenchman Anelka to Stamford Bridge have stalled over Bolton’s £15million valuation but Grant has targeted a breakthrough by the weekend.

He said: “We have confirmed our interest in Anelka. We wanted him for today and I hope that he will now get him for Saturday.

“If not we’ll continue with the players that we have. We are missing three strikers so it’s important to do it quickly.”

Chelsea led through Shaun Wright-Phillips’ superb first-half strike and were in full control until Mikel John Obi’s 55th minute dismissal.

Referee Peter Walton reached for the red card in response to Mikel’s one-footed lunge on Phil Neville, but Grant refused to be drawn into a dispute over the decision.

“If this is a red card then two or three players who got yellow cards should also have been sent off,” he said.

“But I don’t want to say anything else about this decision because the players who played today deserve to be talked about.

“I understand why I’m being asked about this but I only want to talk about the way my players performed. I’m proud of them.

“I’m happy that we won. We deserved to win and created a lot of chances in the first half.

“We adapted very quickly to the red card. The players deserve credit for their spirit.

“We are missing many players and they showed great spirit. They played good football.”

Ayegbeni Yakubu equalised for Everton with an emphatic half-volley but disaster struck in injury time when Joleon Lescott scored a bizarre own goal.

Under pressure from the impressive Wright-Phillips, he remained rooted to the spot as he nodded the ball into his own net from six yards out

Everton boss David Moyes questioned the legitimacy of the goal but had few complaints with Walton’s performance.

He said: “There might have been a case for Shaun Wright-Phillips holding down Lescott for the goal. His arms were definitely on his shoulder.

“I’ve not seen the sending off so don’t know if it was right or wrong.

“The referee could have let a few of the cards go but overall he did okay.

“Both sets of players showed they wanted to be in the final.”

The second leg is at Goodison Park in two weeks time and Moyes lamented his side’s failure to protect their lead.

He said: “We worked very hard to get back in the tie. The players deserve a lot of credit because Chelsea are very good.

“Chelsea caused us problems but we played well and showed composure.

“We’ve gradually been getting better and I thought tonight when it was 1-1 and they were a man down we could get on top.

“But Chelsea are relentless and they just keep on going. We sat back a bit and they came at us.

“We’ve come to Stamford Bridge and created opportunities. The tie’s still alive but we’re disappointed we didn’t come away with a draw in the end.

“I thought it was a good old-fashioned cup tie. Semi-finals are tough because there’s so much at stake.”