Avram Grant admitted Frank Lampard had saved Chelsea's blushes after the England midfielder's hat-trick inspired a 4-3 League Cup win over Leicester.
Grant's side were pushed all the way by the managerless Championship outfit, who led with three minutes to play at Stamford Bridge.
Fortunately for Chelsea, Lampard's first goals since August sent the League Cup holders through to the quarter-finals.
PHOTO: AFP
After Andriy Shevchenko had equalized in the 87th minute, Lampard popped up to head home the winner in stoppage time.
Leicester had taken a shock sixth minute lead through Gareth McAuley. But Chelsea equalized in the 20th minute through Lampard, who scored again nine minutes later.
But Leicester drew level in the 69th minute through DJ Campbell before Carl Cort put the visitors ahead.
Then Shevchenko equalized and Lampard broke Leicester's hearts with a close range header.
Rafa Benitez admitted he was delighted to have Harry Kewell back as the Australia winger finally returned from injury in his side's 2-1 win over Cardiff.
Kewell made his first appearance since May's Champions League final after a groin injury as a second half substitute at Anfield.
Moroccan forward Nabil El Zhar scored his first Liverpool goal in the 48th minute. Darren Purse headed Cardiff level midway through the second half before Steven Gerrard's winner a minute later.
Juande Ramos enjoyed a winning start to his reign at Tottenham as his new club beat Blackpool 2-0.
Goals from Robbie Keane and Pascal Chimbonda were enough to give the former Sevilla coach the perfect debut at White Hart Lane and secure Tottenham's first win in seven matches at the expense of the Championship strugglers.
Ramos named a strong side, making only two changes to the team beaten by Blackburn on Sunday, with England internationals Paul Robinson and Jermaine Jenas coming back into the side.
Keane gave Ramos a dream start when he cooly converted Dimitar Berbatov's pass after a long punt by Robinson in the 18th minute.
French right-back Chimbonda put the result beyond doubt when he met Steed Malbranque's corner with a thumping header in the 58th minute.
Eduardo da Silva's double strike sent Arsenal cruising through as the Premier League leaders beat Sheffield United 3-0 at Bramall Lane.
As usual Arsene Wenger gave his fringe players a chance and they responded in style to maintain Arsenal's unbeaten start to the season.
It took last season's runners-up only eight minutes to take the lead when Eduardo lashed in a superb strike from the edge of the penalty area.
The Croatian forward doubled Arsenal's advantage after 50 minutes when he sprinted through to poke a shot past Ian Bennett before Denilson got on the scoresheet in the 69th minute.
Tim Cahill gave Everton a 1-0 extra-time win at League One side Luton.
Cahill pounced in the 101st minute with a close range finish to end the Hatters' brave resistance.
South African striker Benni McCarthy helped Blackburn to a 2-1 win at Portsmouth.
McCarthy got his eighth goal of the season in the 11th minute and Mark Hughes's side went further ahead through Morten Gamst Pedersen in the 77th minute before Nwankwo Kanu's last minute reply for Portsmouth.
Manchester City bounced back from their Chelsea nightmare as Elano's 86th minute penalty clinched a 1-0 win at Bolton.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB