LONDON, 18 February 2007 — Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba steered Chelsea into the FA Cup quarterfinals in a 4-0 win over second division Norwich City as Arsenal were held 0-0 by Blackburn Rovers yesterday.
Chelsea’s England winger Shaun Wright-Phillips opened the scoring in the 39th minute and Drogba rifled home in the 51st before stoppage-time goals from Ghana’s Michael Essien and Ukraine’s Andriy Shevchenko made it a rout at Stamford Bridge.
Watford beat second division Ipswich Town 1-0, while Arsenal’s trip to Ewood Park will be one of two fifth round replays after Middlesbrough were held 2-2 by second division West Bromwich Albion.
Plymouth Argyle reached today’s draw with a 2-0 win over leaders Derby County in their all-second division tie, while Reading came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw at Manchester United.
England midfielder Frank Lampard engineered Chelsea’s opening goals, with his shot being blocked and Wright-Phillips lifting home the rebound from 10 meters off Andy Hughes.
Lampard also swung over a corner soon after the re-start, triggering a goalmouth scramble and allowing Drogba to pounce from point-blank range for his 26th goal of the season.
Shevchenko was behind the late flurry, squaring the ball for Essien to slot home and then nodding Chelsea’s fourth off a cross from the left by Salomon Kalou.
Arsenal, who beat Bolton Wanderers 3-1 after extra time in Wednesday’s fourth round replay, had virtually all the possession at the Emirates Stadium but lacked the bite to really trouble a well-organized Blackburn side.
Blackburn, who played in the UEFA Cup on Wednesday, losing 3-2 at Bayer Leverkusen, survived a penalty appeal after French forward Jeremie Aliadiere went down under a challenge by Blackburn defender Stephen Warnock.
Middlesbrough were twice pegged back by West Brom, with Argentine winger Julio Arca’s opener canceled out by Diomansy Kamara and a Yakubu Aiyegbeni penalty getting the same treatment from Kevin Phillips’ equalizer in the 58th minute.
Watford, battling relegation from the Premier League, went through with an 88th-minute strike by Damien Francis - though they were helped by a 45th-minute red card for Ipswich midfielder George O’Callaghan.
An early Kevin Gallen penalty and a late Scott Sinclair header won it for Plymouth against Derby.
Careless Schalke Miss
Chance to Go Seven Clear
In Berlin, leaders Schalke 04 had to settle for a 2-2 draw at VfL Wolfsburg while Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich suffered further defeats on a day of missed opportunities in the Bundesliga yesterday.
Schalke were 2-0 up by the 29th minute and on course for a seventh straight win — a result that would have taken them seven points clear — thanks to two goals from Kevin Kuranyi.
Diego Klimowicz pulled one back early in the second half, though, and Wolfsburg grabbed a point a minute from time when Marcelinho sent in a free kick that may just have brushed the head of Klimowicz on its way in at the far post.
A draw for Schalke was enough to take them five points ahead of VfB Stuttgart, who climbed to second thanks to a 4-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday.
With 22 matches played, Schalke lead the standings on 49 points. VfB Stuttgart are second on 44, Werder third on 42 and Bayern fourth on 37.
Werder suffered a third straight loss when two goals from Rafael van der Vaart earned Hamburg SV a 2-0 victory in the big northern derby at the Weserstadion. The result was enough to take Hamburg off the bottom of the table. Bayern’s woes continued as they suffered a 1-0 defeat away to Alemannia Aachen in their final match before they travel to face Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday. Alexander Klitzpera got the only goal for Aachen.
Bayern’s second defeat in three games since the return of Ottmar Hitzfeld was yet another missed opportunity for the champions.
Ronaldo Strikes Twice as
Milan Beat Siena 4-3
In Rome, Ronaldo scored two goals and set up another as AC Milan beat Siena 4-3 to climb to fifth in Serie A yesterday.
Milan only claimed the points in the final minute of stoppage time when Massimo Ambrosini headed in from a corner but the dominant figure was three-times FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldo, making his first appearance in Milan’s starting line-up since signing from Real Madrid last month.
Milan have 33 points after 23 matches, taking into account their eight-point penalty for match-fixing, and are 30 points behind leaders Inter Milan, who racked up their 16th successive Serie A win by beating Cagliari 1-0. Second-placed AS Roma slipped 14 points behind Inter after losing 1-0 at Empoli. Ronaldo inspired Milan to a dramatic victory after Siena had pulled themselves level each time they fell behind only to succumb to Ambrosini’s header in the final seconds.
Ronaldo opened the scoring in the 15th minute, out-jumping his marker to nod a Paolo Maldini cross past keeper Alex Manninger.
Midfielder Simone Vergassola equalized four minutes later but Ronaldo conjured up a defense-splitting pass for strike partner Ricardo Oliveira to restore Milan’s lead just before the half hour.
Celtic Go 22 Points Clear
After Win at Aberdeen
In Glasgow, champions Celtic moved closer to retaining their title when a 2-1 win at Aberdeen yesterday stretched their lead to 22 points.
Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura set up striker Craig Beattie to slot home the ninth-minute opener before adding the second with a superb free-kick 11 minutes later.
Aberdeen grabbed their consolation goal in stoppage time when Darren Mackie squeezed a shot under Polish keeper Artur Boruc.
Celtic have 71 points from 28 games. Arch rivals Rangers, in second place with 49 from 27, face Falkirk today.
Celtic’s victory was overshadowed by a bizarre head injury suffered by substitute striker Kenny Miller in the second half when he collided with linesman James Bee during his warm up.
Miller was unable to come on in place of Craig Beattie forcing Celtic to throw on Aiden McGeady instead.
Manager Gordon Strachan played down fears the Scotland striker would miss their Champions League clash on Tuesday with AC Milan.
Hearts missed a fine chance to move third when they were held 1-1 by one-from-bottom St Mirren. Hearts are level on 45 points with Aberdeen but behind them on goal difference.
Bottom club Dunfermline Athletic scored their first league goal in 13 hours and 13 minutes when Steve Crawford scored a 44th-minute penalty equalizer in a 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock.
Motherwell beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1-0, while Dundee United are at home to Hibernian today.
Utaka hits double to help Rennes
to 3-1 win at St. Etienne
In Paris, striker John Utaka scored a goal in each half to help Stade Rennes win 3-1 at St Etienne in a Ligue 1 match yesterday.
The Nigerian international opened the scoring with a 16-meter free kick which left no chance to goalkeeper Jeremie Janot after 15 minutes.
St. Etienne equalized thanks to Bafetimbi Gomis on 35 minutes but the in-form Utaka volleyed home from inside the box to put Rennes back in the driving seat just before the hour.
Three minutes later, Sylvain Marveaux found the net again for the visitors and wrapped up St Etienne’s third consecutive league defeat at home.
