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.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
RSS