Abby Brammell

By Chris Cutmore

Cool finish: Michael Ballack (right) scores past David Marshall


Today's fixtures:

Chelsea 3 Cardiff 1 - 12:00

Southampton 0 Portsmouth 0 - 12:30

Derby v Birmingham - 15:00

Reading v West Brom - 15:00

Man City v Stoke - 17:15


13.29: GOAL!!! CHELSEA 3 CARDIFF 1
Game, set and match. The holders look nailed on for another appearance in the quarter-finals now as Drogba causes havoc in the box before the loose ball squirts to Daniel Sturridge. The young striker slots home, rather fortuitously, through Marshall's legs. Surely that's the end of Cardiff's resistance.

13.25: Chelsea are firmly in control at Stamford Bridge now, playing possession football and passing and moving at a canter. That said, things were rather similar in the first half with the Blues 1-0 up, and then look what happened.

13.16: James to the rescue, again! Wayne Thomas leaps to meet another in-swinging corner with a thumping header at the far post, but the Pompey keeper somehow keeps it out at near point-blank range with an outstretched right arm.


Back in front: Chelsea's Michael Ballack celebrates scoring with his team-mates

13.10: GOAL!!! CHELSEA 2 CARDIFF 1
Cardiff really haven't learned their lessons from the first goal and have wasted all their hard work getting back into this game. Michael Ballack storms through the middle - totally unmarked - to latch on to Drogba's clipped through ball and chip over the advancing goalkeeper.

13.08: 1-0 to Southampton, surely... No! How did Jaidi miss? Just as I was singing David James's praises he drops a huge clanger, letting a tame corner straight through his hands as he came to claim the cross, but the big defender can't capitalise and heads over from just four yards.

13.06: The second half gets underway at Stamford Bridge, and Drogba fires in a dangerous free-kick just wide.

13.00: Both sides' back line look a bit of a shambles however. Long, direct balls to Papa Waigo continue to trouble Pompey, while John Utaka and O'Hara are running the Saints ragged down the left and through the middle. You might even say that the south coast clubs' defences are all at sea... ahem.

12.56: Cor, this isn't half bad down on the south coast. O'Hara, a little ball of hustle and bustle, bursts through the Saints midfield and smashes a fierce, dipping strike at goal which is superbly tipped over the bar by Kelvin Davis. Top quality football all around.

12.50: HALF-TIME: CHELSEA 1 CARDIFF 1
12.48: End to end stuff at St Mary's as Jamie O'Hara curls a delicious free-kick just wide before Papa Waigo misses his second good chance of the game after his touch let him down in the box when unmarked following Rickie Lambert's fine pass


Where are you, John Terry? Cardiff's Michael Chopra celebrates scoring

12.44: What a chance and what a save! England's number one - that's David James for those of you wondering exactly who that is these days - flings himself low to his left to pluck Papa Waigo's goal-bound header from off the line. How did that stay out?

12.42: Schneiderlin works an opening on the edge of the Pompety box but hammers his shot way over the top. Good start from the Saints - they've had most of the possession.

12.40: Lampard blasts over from 25 yards. Not at all close, and Chelsea are going to have to buck their ideas up here.

12.36: GOAL!!! CHELSEA 1 CARDIFF 1
Well well well, what is going on here? Chris Burke curls a cross from the left into a huge John Terry-shaped hole in Chelsea's defence and Michael Chopra meets the in-swinging ball with a firm header into the bottom-right corner of the net. The striker was totally unmarked - Alex dawdled as he ran in to meet the pass.

12.33: The south coast derby is underway at St Mary's. If you're looking for omens, Southampton have won all five of the FA Cup ties between the two sides and have also emerged victorious on each occasion the old rivals have met at this ground - four times.


Tussle: Frank Lampard (left) vies with Cardiff's Aaron Wildig

12.28: Drogba's ambitious but well-struck over-head kick from inside the box lands safely in Marshall's hands.

12.22: Michael Chopra goes into the book for a late challenge on Ricardo Carvalho. Easy for the Blues so far - they're in first gear.

12.15: Anthony Gerrard and Michael Chopra both see good headed chances squandered. Hilario saves the first and the second flies over the bar.

12.13: Alex sees yellow after holding back ex-Arsenal striker Jay Bothroyd.

12.12: Joe Cole continues his comeback from a serious knee injury that kept him out of most of last season with a start today. He's not yet hit the heights we all know he's capable of, and a run-out against lower-league opposition may be just what the doctor ordered.

He's straight into the step-overs here - one, two, three, four of them - but them pokes the ball with his toe straight to his marker. Whoops!

12.06: Southampton v Portsmouth team news
Southampton: Davis, Thomas, Perry, Jaidi, Harding, Antonio, Hammond, Schneiderlin, Lallana, Lambert, Papa Waigo. Subs: Bialkowski, Gillett, Wotton, Holmes, Barnard, Mills, James.

Portsmouth: James, Mullins, Hreidarsson, Wilson, Belhadj, Basinas, Diop, O'Hara, Yebda, Utaka, Dindane. Subs: Ashdown, Piquionne, Owusu-Abeyie, Webber, Hughes, Tosic, Kanu.


Breakthrough: Chelsea's Didier Drogba (right) celebrates scoring

12.02: GOAL!!! CHELSEA 1 CARDIFF 0
Oh. Dear. This could be a very long day indeed for Dave Jones' men. Any thoughts of a famous cup upset look to have been dashed in the very first minute at Stamford Bridge.

John Mikel Obi lumps a long ball forward from half-way and the one man the Bluebirds can't leave unmarked - Didier Drogba - scampers in behind the defence and volleys in unopposed from 12 yards.

12.00: There's a minute's warm applause at Stamford Bridge, not in memory of the loss of John Terry's innocence, but in honour of former Chelsea and Yugoslavia keeper Petar Borota, who died on Saturday aged 56.
11.55: Here's the teams from Stamford Bridge:

Chelsea: Hilario, Paulo Ferreira, Alex, Carvalho, Zhirkov, Ballack, Mikel, Lampard, Joe Cole, Drogba, Sturridge. Subs: Turnbull, Ivanovic, Bruma, Matic, Malouda, Kalou, Borini.

Cardiff: Marshall, McNaughton, Gerrard, Gyepes, Kennedy, Burke, Rae, Wildig, Whittingham, Chopra, Bothroyd. Subs: Enckelman, Quinn, Taiwo, Blake, Feeney, Matthews, McCormack.

11.45: Good afternoon, folks, I do hope you're enjoying your weekend thus far. Hopefully we're going to add a little spice to your Saturday afternoon with our coverage of the day's FA Cup fifth round ties.

The feistiest fixture of the day - and round - is at St Mary's where Southampton and Portsmouth resume their fierce local rivalry after a break of nearly five years. The South coast sides last met in April 2005 at Fratton Park, when Pompey ran riot to win 4-1.

What a welcome relief a result like that would be for Portsmouth boss Avram Grant after a torrid week in which his club's financial meltdown has been laid bare at the high court. Alan Pardew's Saints will be far from pushovers however.

Southampton's league form is decent - they're hoping for a late surge into the League One playoffs after a points handicap almost ruined their season before it even started - and have already reached Wembley in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy so could be called Cup specialists.

First up today, however, is Chelsea's tie at home to Cardiff City, starting at 12.00. I need not tell you that it is the first Blues game since John Terry was granted leave to spend time with his wife in Dubai after allegations broke over his affair with Wayne Bridge's ex-girlfriend.

Stay tuned to find out how the Blues patched-up defence fare against the Championship high-fliers, as well as all the day's action.


Defeat: Chelsea come into today's game on the back of a 2-1 reverse at Everton


source: dailymail