MARK LAWRENSON: Everton's best chance yet to reach Wembley

Jan 22 2008

THEY might be trailing the country’s best domestic cup team of the last few years – but Everton will never have a better chance of beating Chelsea than tomorrow night.

The success at Stamford Bridge in recent times has been built on the fact that they have big-game players, the type made for stirring occasions like Goodison Park in a semi-final second leg.

We saw a hint of it last season in the league game. Everton looked like they were going to do them then, bang! Lampard and Drogba with two absolute screamers snatched victory.

But Chelsea don’t have Lampard and Drogba tomorrow. Or Terry, Mikel or Essien. And therefore, they don’t quite have the same ability to transform a game like they did at Goodison last season.

That’s why Everton need to get themselves into a position where Wembley is in their grasp, because this time their opponents won’t be as well equipped to wrestle it from them.

Even Petr Cech isn’t playing that well these days and that sums up the vulnerability about Chelsea at the moment. They’re looking shaky whereas for events like this, they are normally big, strong and confident. Nobody would be stupid enough to write them off, of course. For all Avram Grant’s insistence that he wanted to change their image and make them a more exciting side when he took over, they are still the same methodical, organised outfit Jose Mourinho created.

They can be negative when it suits them and will probably only go with Nicolas Anelka on his own up front tomorrow.

They don’t mind relying on set pieces for a breakthrough, as we saw at Birmingham on Saturday, and they can still grind out whatever result they need.

But without those top players, tomorrow will be a very different test – and it will be fascinating to see how some of them come through it because Goodison will be absolutely rocking.

Some of them won’t have been in that situation before and the powers of concentration Chelsea so often rely on will be tested to the maximum.

However, that doesn’t mean Everton can go all out and try to swamp them from the off.

Sure, close down in midfield an get in amongst them, but don’t be scared of creating a cagey game.

That’s why they need to forget that Joleon Lescott’s own goal in the first leg even happened – pretend it’s all square and you don’t have to claw back a deficit. That way you don’t chase the game too early and make it too open.

Because if Everton don’t concede early on they can wait until the last 10 minutes to score and get the 1-0 lead they need to force extra time.

And that could be the best bet of getting to a first cup final for 13 years. Because whatever advantage his side have, David Moyes has the squad to be able to adapt to it and create the game that suits them.

That’s how much progress they have made. They are now in a position where they can change things around, adjust formations to react to a situation.

And there will be plenty of situations tomorrow. They could even find themselves playing three different games in 120 minutes.

But I can see it being very, very cagey and nervy – both on and off the pitch.

And if that’s the case then I can also see Wembley being decorated in the Mersey shade of blue come next month’s final.