Chelsea will meet Liverpool in the FA Cup final on 5th May after they won their semi-finals at Wembley this weekend.
Andy Carroll scored a late winner for Liverpool against Everton in a 2-1 win on Saturday. His side had initially gone behind to a Nikica Jelavic strike but Luis Suarez levelled things up on the hour after picking up a back pass from Sylvain Distin.
Carroll headed Craig Bellamy’s free kick past Tim Howard with three minutes to play to put his side into their second Wembley final of the season one day before the 23rd anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.
Chelsea beat Tottenham 5-1 in the weekend’s other semi-final but the scoreline was harsh on Spurs who threatened in the first half. They went behind to a sensational Didier Drogba strike just before half time but Chelsea’s second, minutes after the restart, was dubious at best.
Juan Mata’s shot appeared to be blocked in front of the line by Benoit Assou-Ekotto but referee Martin Atkinson awarded the goal to the astonishment of the Tottenham players.
Gareth Bale then scored for Spurs after Emmanuel Adebayor was taken down by Petr Cech for what would have certainly been a penalty and a red card for the Chelsea keeper had the ball not fallen to Bale.
Any hopes of a Spurs comeback were kocked by Ramires’ 77th-minute goal and Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda completed the rout late on.
In the Premier League the five-point gap was maintained between the two title contenders. On Saturday Manchester City thrashed Norwich 6-1 and Manchester United responded with a 3-0 home win over Aston Villa on Sunday.
Carlos Tevez scored a hattrick as City piled the pressure onto their rivals but United responded with goals from Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck.
In the Championship, Reading went top after beating Southampton 3-1 on Friday evening, before West Ham battered Brighton 6-0 to cut the gap between themselves and Southampton in second to three points with three games to play.
Hibernian and Hearts set up the first all-Edinburgh Scottish Cup final for 116 years after they beat Aberdeen and Celtic respectively, both by a 2-1 scoreline.
The Grand National was won by Neptune Collonges, but the world’s most prestigious steeplechase was marred by the death of two horses. Synchronised, which was ridden by Tony McCoy to victory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup just last month, and According to Pete both fell at Becher’s Brook.
Neptune Collonges, trained by Paul Nicholls, won by a nose ahead of Sunnyhillboy in a compellingly close finish.
Nico Rosberg won the Chinese Grand Prix, the first race win of his 111-race Formula 1 career, ahead of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, having started the race in pole.
Harlequins beat Wasps 33-17 to maintain their lead at the top of the Aviva Premiership and push their London rivals one step closer to relegation. Fellow strugglers Newcastle took advantage of Wasps’ defeat with a 29-20 win away to Gloucester.
Leicester and Saracens, Harlequins closest rivals at the top, both registered away wins. Leicester beat Northampton 35-21 and Saracens overcame London Irish 28-19.
The scorer of the Exiles’ two tries, Delon Armitage, has announced his intention to leave London Irish for French side Toulon at the end of the season.
In the Rugby League’s Challenge Cup, Featherstone Rovers upset the odds as they defeated Super League side Castleford 23-16 on Saturday. St Helens held off Widnes to win 40-38. A few Super League sides posted big scores – Wigan demolished Championship 1 side North Wales Crusaders 98-4, Bradford beat Doncaster 76-6 and London Broncos thrashed Dewsbury 77-4.
