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Kalou broke the deadlock with 55 minutes on the clock after some fine work by Frank Lampard.
England midfielder Lampard wriggled free in the box before cutting back a left-foot cross.
The ball eluded West Ham keeper Robert Green and the unmarked Kalou calmly chested it down before rifling into the net.
Guus Hiddink's side looked comfortable throughout despite the Dutchman leaving regular starters Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack and Ashley Cole on the bench.
They were unlucky not to extend the lead when substitute Cole rattled the bar after Nicolas Anelka had been denied in the 65th minute by Green.
But the visitors had Petr Cech to thank for preserving the advantage when Kalou gave away a needless penalty by pulling back Herita Ilunga.
The Hammers were on a high going into the game with managerial duo Gianfranco Zola and Steve Clarke just days away from signing new four-year contracts.
But it was their former club who created the first real chance after 16 minutes with Lampard sliding in Florent Malouda.
The Frenchman threatened to spoil the party as he raced away before dragging his shot disappointly wide of the target.
Kieron Dyer, making his first start since August 2007, should have given the hosts the lead shortly afterwards.
But the best the injury-prone midfielder could manage was a tame shot at Cech after Diego Tristan had split the Chelsea defence.
Lampard, with jeers ringing in his ears, had a few sighters on Green’s goal. One volley flashed wide, a second went straight at the keeper and Noble bravely blocked another.
Chelsea kept the pressure on but almost fell behind just before the break. John Mikel Obi was on hand to clear off the line when Tristan prodded towards goal after Noble’s corner was nodded down by Matthew Upson with Cech out of position.
With the scare out of their system, the visitors went ahead 10 minutes after the restart.
Lampard tricked his way towards the byline down the left and floated a cross to the far post, where Kalou planted his finish into an empty net.
Lampard and Blues skipper John Terry celebrated in front of the Bobby Moore Stand and missiles were thrown towards them from the crowd.
Jose Bosingwa, who will mark Barcelona ace Lionel Messi on Tuesday, was given a breather just before the hour mark with Cole coming on at left-back.
Zola’s response to falling behind saw him replace Dyer and the misfiring David Di Michele with Freddie Sears and Radoslav Kovac.
Anelka should have doubled the lead when Juliano Belletti sent him through after Upson slipped.
But the striker was left with his head in his hands after Green blocked the effort and the ball cannoned back off him for a goalkick.
Cole then shaved the crossbar before the Hammers were awarded the penalty.
But Cech showed his confidence is now fully restored by denying Noble.
But despite the defeat to his former club, Zola could still take West Ham into the Europa League in his rookie season as a manager.
He said: “It was a good penalty but unfortunately Petr Cech has made a great save.
“Penalties look easy but from experience, I can say they are not.Guus Hiddink is ready to concentrate on a cup double after conceding Chelsea are realistically out of the race for the Premier League title.
DarrenWalsh/GettyImages
Guus Hiddink shakes hands with David Moyes before Wednesday night's 0-0 draw
Hiddink insisted that it was now time to focus on the Champions League and the FA Cup after their goalless stalemate against Everton at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea face Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final, first leg at the Nou Camp next Tuesday and Hiddink is considering giving some of his players a rest against West Ham on Saturday.
He is already without centre-half Ricardo Carvalho for the trip to Spain, the Portuguese having suffered a recurrence of his hamstring problem.
But in a dress rehearsal for the FA Cup final at the end of May, Chelsea and Everton served up an entertaining draw that was dominated by goalkeepers.
Chelsea's Petr Cech and Everton's Tim Howard produced fine solo performances to preserve the deadlock which, coupled with Manchester United's 2-0 victory over Portsmouth, put an end to any remaining title ambitions for Hiddink's side.
The Blues are six points adrift of leaders United who have a game in hand and Hiddink knows the title is no longer a realistic ambition.
"It is difficult but we now have to focus on only two other roads - the Champions League and, later on in May, Everton again in the FA Cup final,'' admitted Hiddink.
"Everyone is disappointed. We knew it was difficult to go for the title so when you drop two points there is disappointment of course. But this team is able to cope with that and focus ourselves on the difficult game against Barcelona next week.''
Cech starred in the opening half when he twice denied Everton striker Jo and then midfielder Tim Cahill.
In the second period it was the turn of Howard to keep Chelsea at bay as he prevented Lampard and Kalou from scoring with fine saves.
Ivorian hitman Didier Drogba almost won it for Chelsea when his volley crashed against the crossbar in stoppage time but Steven Pienaar and Cahill also squandered late chances to win it for the Toffees.
The result kept Everton in sixth place, a point behind Aston Villa, but boss David Moyes determined to overhaul them.
"It means a lot to me to finish fifth,'' said Moyes. "If we do it this year it will be four top-six finishes out of five. So what we've done is a decent effort and Everton are becoming a side that is competing at a top level.''
Moyes paid tribute to his players who produced another hardworking performance after their gruelling victory over Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final at the weekend.
"It was a good point under the circumstances after playing 120 minutes on Sunday,'' said Moyes. "We didn't have a massive amount of recovery before coming here to play a team who are in good form. So I think a point was a good result for us.
"The players have been playing great all season and I have to say well done to them. This was another terrific effort from them.
"We had some good chances but I thought Joseph Yobo and Joleon Lescott were terrific at the back.''
Source:Soccernet.com
Chelsea's Didier Drogba was a thorn in Arsenal's side again on Saturday when he struck late to clinch a 2-1 victory in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
The Ivory Coast striker pounced on Frank Lampard's lofted pass with six minutes remaining to give Chelsea their first FA Cup success over Arsenal since 1947.
They will face the winners of Sunday's semi-final between Manchester United and Everton, which is also at Wembley.
Drogba has now scored eight goals against Arsenal since joining Chelsea from Olympique Marseille, including a late winner in the League Cup final in 2007.
Neither side were at their best following midweek triumphs in the Champions League and Chelsea had to dig deep after Theo Walcott volleyed Arsenal ahead in the 18th minute.
Chelsea's equaliser came from the unlikely source of winger Florent Malouda before the break.
Arsenal had the better second-half chances before some hesitation by second-choice goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski let in Drogba who slotted home from a tight angle.
Interim manager Guus Hiddink can now sign off his short reign at Chelsea with an FA Cup final showdown on May 30.
"This is a huge step to be in the FA Cup final because it's so respected worldwide," said Hiddink.
The Dutchman's only other appearance at the new Wembley ended in defeat when his Russia side lost 3-0 to England in a Euro 2008 qualifier.
"I think we deserved it today. We adapted well after they scored and we started to control and dominate. The sloppy start was down to a tactical reason," said Hiddink.
"I'm very proud of these players, they always deliver, they always react to a setback."
Courtesy:
abc.net.au
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Valencia striker David Villa, linked with moves to Chelsea, Barcelona and Real Madrid, insists he intends to see out his six-year contract at the Mestalla - even if Los Che fail to qualify for next season's Champions League. (Spanish newspaper AS)Chelsea are willing to pay £40m for 27-year-old Valencia striker David Villa. (Various)
Cash-strapped Valencia will actually demand £45m for the Spanish international. (Daily Express)
"I admit it was an unexpected result, but we are very happy with the win and it was well deserved.
"We pinpointed areas in our opponents' side where we could hurt them. The team could smell that and they took advantage. We talked about that situation again at the break and made sure we continued in the same way."
"We started very sloppily, the jobs we were doing in defence were not as good as they could have been. We let them score far too easily, but I can only compliment my team for their recovery from that set-back. Straight afterwards we could have equalised on two occasions.
"But we reacted well, we scored with a very good set-piece and from then on the confidence flooded through our team. If you feel the opponent can be hurt in some part of their team, it would be stupid not to go for it."
Rafa Benitez had this to say:"For their first goal there were three players near to the scorer and they were not able to stop him. And then something very similar happened for the second, we made bad mistakes at crucial times.
"Now we know we have a difficult task in the second-leg. We have to score three times and that will be very difficult.
"But we must believe we can do it. We have scored four at Manchester United so we know what we are capable of.
"Chelsea did not really surprise us, and they clearly believe that this is the competition they have most chance of winning now.
"They have won many away games this season, but the way we lost was hard to take."
Rafa Benitez better be thinking of a new strategy to face us coz we proved to the world that we have the liverpool kryptonite!
