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Chelsea salvages 2-2 with Arsenal in FA Cup

Ray Parlour of Arsenal battles with Celestine Babayaro. Ben Radford/Getty Images

LONDON (AP) -- Frank Lampard scored a late equalizer and Carlo Cudicini saved the last shot of the match as Chelsea earned a 2-2 tie with Arsenal at Highbury on Saturday to earn an FA Cup quarterfinal replay with the defending champion.

In a thrilling rematch of last season's finalists, Chelsea raced into a third minute lead through John Terry before the Gunners went into halftime with a 2-1 lead.

Francis Jeffers leveled in the 21st minute and Thierry Henry, who also had a penalty saved by Cudicini, added the second a minute before the break with a brilliant strike.

Gunners manager Arsene Wenger took Henry off to rest him before Tuesday's Champions League game against AS Roma and Chelsea hit back strongly at the end, Lampard equalizing in a goalmouth scramble.

The two teams will meet again at Stamford Bridge to add to Arsenal's crowded schedule as it also bids to hang on to its Premier League title as well as win its first Champions League.

In the only Premier League game scheduled Saturday, Michael Owen's 20th goal of the season helped Liverpool gain a 2-0 victory over relegation-threatened Bolton to climb closer to a Champions League spot.

After David Seaman had beaten out an early shot from Gianfranco Zola, the veteran England 'keeper was beaten in the third minute at Highbury. Jesper Gronkjaer found Terry unmarked at the far post and the defender guided a header inside the far post.

Arsenal was awarded a dubious penalty when Jeffers tumbled having clearly made no contact with goalkeeper Cudicini. But the Italian 'keeper made up for it by diving to his right and pushing Henry's spot kick round the post with a stunning save.

But he couldn't stop the Gunners going into halftime 2-1 ahead.

In the 21st minute, Cudicini raced off his line to block Fredrik Ljungberg's shot with his legs. The ball ran behind him and, after Chelsea defender Celestine Babayaro completely missed it, Jeffers followed up to prod home from close range.

A minute before the break, Henry beat the Chelsea offside trap to chase a deft Patrick Vieira lob and audaciously turned his back to spin round Cudicini just inside the area before rolling the ball into an empty net.

William Gallas and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink both squandered great chances to level. But it was Hasselbaink's deflected shot that brought the equalizer -- Mario Melchiot flicking on the resulting corner and Lampard prodding the ball through a forest of legs in a goalmouth scramble.

Arsenal had a chance to win the game deep into injury time but Giovanni van Bronckhorst's deflected free kick was blocked by Cudicini for the last action of the game.

The other three quarterfinals are on Sunday when Leeds United goes to Sheffield United, Southampton hosts Wolves and Watford welcomes Burnley in an all division one game.

An Anfield, Senegalese striker El Hadji Diouf scored for the first time since August a minute before the break to put Gerard Houllier's team ahead at Anfield before setting up the second for England striker Owen.

Owen, who also scored in last week's 2-0 League Cup final victory over Manchester United, added the second from Diouf's low cross in the 67th minute. The England star tapped the ball in from two yards out for his fourth goal in four games.

The result moved Liverpool up one place to sixth and still with a chance of a top four finish which means a place in the Champions League. Winning the League Cup has already guaranteed a UEFA Cup spot.

For Bolton, the loss means that it remains level on points with second from last West Ham and in danger of relegation.

In division one action, second place Leicester was held to a 1-1 tie by next-to-last Sheffield Wednesday. The visitor's Paul McLaren gave his team a 25th minute lead and then put the ball into his own net for the equalizer in the 50th with a back pass which slipped past goalkeeper Paul Evans.

The two points dropped means that Micky Adams team failed to draw level with long-time leader Portsmouth. Pompey has 73 points and Leicester 71 and, with third place Reading on 61, the top two still appear almost certain to capture the two automatic promotion spots.

 

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