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Results Based News

Chelsea book final berth

Author: Craig Williams
Date: 19/04/2009

Chelsea await the winners of Sunday's FA Cup semi-final between Manchester United and Everton after overcoming Arsenal 2-1 in their own last four encounter at Wembley.

Just days after booking their place in the last four of the Champions League, goals from Florent Malouda and a revitalised Didier Drogba shot down the Gunners to become betting favourites for the cup.

Arsenal had taken an early lead through Theo Walcott before mistakes from stand-in goalkeeper Lukazs Fabianski ultimately cost them an appearance in a showpiece final.

In the Premier League, Sunderland and Portsmouth boosted their hopes of survival following vital wins over Hull City and Bolton Wanderers.

Djibril Cisse's decisive strike was enough to see Sunderland leapfrog the Tigers and Blackburn Rovers into 15th place the league table.

Portsmouth had a late winner from Kanu to thank for edging them further away from the drop zone.

The same cannot be said for Blackburn Rovers as they are now just three points clear of the relegation zone after losing 1-0 at Stoke City.

Middlesbrough are facing an uphill battle to avoid the drop after failing to overcome Fulham following a goalless draw at the Riverside.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa's slump in fortunes continued when they failed yet again to win at Villa Park as West Ham salvaged a point with a late equaliser.

Villa have now gone 11 league and cup games without a win and the point they collected from West Ham was only their third in eight matches.

Midlands rivals Wolves will be playing in the Premier League next season after their 1-0 victory over QPR confirmed their automatic promotion from the Championship.

Red Bull took their first-ever victory in Formula One as Germany's Sebastian Vettel dominated in the rain at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Vettel started from pole position at the Shanghai International Circuit and was always on control, despite the inclement weather causing problems for most of the competitors.

Red Bull's perfect day was completed as Mark Webber finished second behind Vettel, with Brawn GP duo Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello ending third and fourth.

The McLarens of Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton came in fifth and sixth, while rookie Sebastien Buemi earned a point for Toro Rosso by sealing an excellent eighth place.

Cricket's Indian Premier League kicked off with Mumbai Indians winning the opening match against Andrew Flintoff's Chennai Super Kings by 19 runs.

Elsewhere, the Bangalore Royal Challengers thrashed Kevin Pietersen's Rajasthan Royals by 75 runs.

In the County Championship, the Division One match between Somerset and Warwickshire ended in a draw.

It was a same outcome in Division Two in the matches between Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, Essex versus Derbyshire and the Surrey and Gloucestershire encounter.

In rugby union, Cardiff Blues thrashed Gloucester 50-12 to win the EDF Energy Cup and their first ever piece of silverware.

Meanwhile, London Irish missed the opportunity to return to the top of the Guinness Premiership table after going down 21-17 at Northampton.

In rugby league's Super League there were wins for Catalans Dragons and Leeds Rhinos.

Catalans swept Salford aside 38-6, while there was a return to form for Leeds following a comfortable 34-6 success away at Huddersfield.

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