Key Incidents:
Penalty Shoot Out: With the score at 1-1, Jagielka stepped up. Almunia saved the kick, but he was harshly penalised for stepping off of his line, and so the kick had to be retaken. The retake went in, but we soon leveled it up through Vieira. Then Almunia repeated his save by denying Quinn, and when Freddie scored we had the advantage. Harley then slammed his shot down the middle, only for Almunia to stick out a leg and kick the ball away. This left Ashley with the chance to win the game. He slotted his penalty away cooly and that, as they say, was that!
Man Of The Match – Quincy
Player Ratings
Manuel Almunia - 8 - Made one great save in the last few seconds of normal time from a Harley header. He then went on to perform shoot out heroics as he saved two, and had a third save ruled out.
Gael Clichy - 7.5 - Stuck his foot in, and ran for the full 120 minutes. A great performance, with numerous darting runs which helped to unlock their defence.
Pascal Cygan - 7.5 - Remained solid all night, and was only pulled out of position once.
Philippe Senderos - 7.5 - Bombed forward well to provide an extra option. Was strong at the back and looked far better than in previous games.
Lauren - 7.5 - Recalled to the starting line up, and he didn't let us down. Put his challenges in and kept getting forward.
Ashley Cole - 7.5 - Pushed into midfield to give us a more experienced attacking option. Made us some good openings and had a few chances himself.
Patrick Vieira - 8 - A magnificent performance. Got stuck into the midfield work and kept on pushing us on. A real leader in this game, which is what he hasn't been just lately.
Mathieu Flamini - 7.5 - Composed all round, doing his normal routine of organization, tackling and passing. All done to good effect.
Cesc Fabregas - 7 - Being played out of position on the right wing, with Freddie moving up front. He coped well, and nearly gave us the lead when his thunderous drive slammed off the cross bar.
Arturo Lupoli - 6 - Had an average first half before substituted at half time.
Freddie Ljungberg - 7 - Led the line, and stuck to his task. Played well in and around the area, but the final ball was always lacking. Had very few good sights of goal.
Subs:
Quincy - 8.5 - He really changed the game for us. Having had a poor first half attacking wise, he came on a livened us up. His pace and skill dazzled the Sheffield United back line, and they were afraid to go in for the tackle for fear of bringing him down in a dangerous position. He made numerous runs towards their goal, and really should have come out of that came with a goal or an assist. Must surely be worth at least a place on the bench on Saturday, if not a place in the team, maybe playing left wing.
Kolo Toure – 6 - Played wide right, but never really looked comfortable there.
Jeremie Aliadiere - 7 - Good to see him back. Nearly scored with his first touch and showed some good touches.