Chelsea 3 Manchester United 3

FULL TIME

90+4 min Cahill!! Wow! Shades of his marvellous goal against QPR on the first day of the season. Rasping shot from 30 yards and once again De Gea tips it over the bar! Nothing doing from the corner.

90+3 min United have a corner. Giggs takes it. I think it's Evans attempting to dive in. Slight suggestion of a handball. Webb waves away the appeals. Carrick has a shot from long range but Cech saves.

90+1 min What a save by De Gea! Marvellous curling strike by Mata! That's the sort of free kick which routinely draws the "two keepers wouldn't have saved that" line, but one of them just did! That ball was destined for the top corner. De Gea, at full stretch, turns it around the post. Amazing.

90 min Martin Tyler is talking some right nonsense at the moment. His vocabulary is stuck on "adjective". Four minutes of added time. Scholes fouls Luiz, Chelsea free kick 25 yards out.

89 min Meireles' delivery is allowed to bounce, but United are able to take it clear.

88 min It's Chelsea looking for the winner here. A deep cross is nodded behind for a corner by Ferdinand. Villas-Boas is now stood up straight on his hind legs.

87 min Meireles! Close with a header from Malouda's cross. The chance was made by Luiz. What is he doing in the final third given the state of his game? You gotta love him, haven't you?

86 min Five minutes left. Is this going to happen? United are on the ball.

84 min GOAL!! Chelsea 3 Man Utd 3 (Hernandez)
Wow. Where did this come from? Blimey, Chelsea. Essien gave the ball away stupidly there with an attempted shot from the left flank that almost goes out for a throw on the right. Mata kept it in but conceded a throw. United have it up the other end in a flash. Rooney's low shot is well saved by Cech, but reaches Giggs on the left. He has time to pick out a perfect ball for Hernandez, who can scarcely miss, not least because there's not a Chelsea player within two yards of him.

79 min Scholes ticks the box marked "too old" on his self-assessment form with an aimless ball towards no-one in particular over the Chelsea defence at the end of some patient build-up play from United. Goal kick to Chelsea.

77 min Torres! In space! Away from Evans Bounces up invitingly! HIT IT! The universe is willing him to score! Instead he chickens out, tries to take it away from Evans, and is crowded out. Oh, Fernando.

76 min Essien! Stings De Gea's palms there. Lovely work from Torres, who took a difficult ball down on his chest before laying back for Essien to run onto and slam towards goal. Chelsea corner. Very poor delivery, but they keep the ball.

74 min Ooooooohhhh, that's close from Hernandez. Romeu gives the ball away unforgivably in midfield, United work it forward at speed and the Mexican steers his shot just wide from a narrow angle to the right of the goal.

73 min United have a corner. Giggs plays it miles backwards torwards Evra, who spreads it again for Scholes. Valencia now on it on the other wing. Cahill heads his cross away, Mata brings it out of danger for Chelsea.

72 min AVB has assumed his squatting position. I forget now, did we decide that was a bad sign?

70 min Sturridge is coming off for Chelsea after something of an uneven day. It's Oriol Romeu coming on in his place.

69 min GOAL!! Chelsea 3 Man Utd 2 (Rooney)
Similar power, different position. Rooney puts it to Cech's left and United are totally, definitely, back in it.

68 min ANOTHER PENALTY FOR UNITED!
Dubious. Welbeck left his foot in and went tumbling over Ivanovic's challenge. Looked a sure shout from where Howard Webb was standing, but that's soft.

67 min Roooooooonnneeeeeeeeeyyyyyy! Oh. Cech's saved. Nice, brisk exchange of passes between Wazza, his hair, and Chicarito. In the end it's a decent shot which Cech just about smothers before Hernandez arrives on the scene.

66 min Luiz finds Malouda with a lovely ball from deep. He tries to pull it back for Torres but Valencia sticks a leg out. It falls for Mata who strikes... De Gea saves it.

64 min Scholes replaces Rafael for United.

62 min Carrick bursts forward from a deep position in midfield. He comes close to sliding in Rooney beyond the backline, Meireles is the saviour for Chelsea, sliding in to intercept the ball.

59 min Incidentally I should probably mention that throughout this game Feridnand has been on the receiving end of some booing and general baiting from Chelsea fans. Sigh.

58 min GOAL!! Chelsea 3 Man Utd 1 (Rooney)
Struck with Julian Dickesque disgust for the football, right into the roof of the net, and United are kinda, sorta, back in it.

57 min PENALTY TO UNITED! 
Sturridge bundles over Evra in the box. Harsh. But fair. Just about.

55 min It's snowing a bit at Stamford Bridge. Sir Alex Ferguson and lots of people from Surrey are praying for a lot more and an abandonment.

53 min Young is replaced by Hernandez by a shellshocked United.

51 min GOAL!! Chelsea 3 Man Utd 0 (Luiz)
Just before Mata delivered that free kick a demonic-sounding Chelsea supporter shouted: "It's coming De Gea. It's COMING." It did come. Nice delivery by Mata, Luiz gets away from Ferdinand and heads it in! Took a deflection of Ferdinand as United's defender attempted to attone for letting the Brazillian slip away from him. Wow.

50 min Howard Webb books Evra for a frustrated knee-out movement that sends Sturridge tumbling as he attempts to take it to the byline. Mata to take the free kick out wide.

48 min Torres is on the end of an Ivanovic cross, but can only head it wide.

46 min GOAL!! Chelsea 2 Man Utd 0 (Mata)
What a finish! What. A. Finish. Torres is in space on the right hand flank and delivers an absolutely gorgeous cross that evades United's entire defence. Mata watches it onto his foot and hammers it in at the near post on the volley. Right into the roof of the net. Beautiful goal.

46 min It's the second half. It's a kick off. Chelsea take it without sustaining any injuries, or conceding a goal. That's the main thing.

HALF TIME

45+3 min Giggs slides it centrally for Rooney to have a crack from 30 yards. Cech turns his low shot around the post for a corner. Young delivers after a short routine. It's headed away. That's the half.

45+2 min Another foul, by Mata this time. United free kick just about in shooting range.

45+1 min Two minutes of added time. Ivanovic is booked now for a late challenge on Young. Clumsy. Correct decision.

45 min Ivanovic is penalised for a somewhat mistimed slide tackle on Evra. Debatable, looked like he might have got the ball to me. United free kick, miles out, Giggs spreads it wide. Valencia tries to thread it through for Carrick but Cahill boots it away for a throw.

44 min Malouda with one of those "good idea" passes which implicity don't quite work out. A reverse ball towards a theoretical Fernando Torres who's run into the space that Malouda's imagined he will. He's not having the best of times, Malouda.

43 min It's all United now. They're chucking difficult high balls into the box, but Chelsea are standing tall at the moment. Luiz wins the most recent tricky header and Chelsea come away with the ball.

41 min Another good save by Cech, Welbeck's off-balance shot turned behind for a corner. Valencia plays it back towards Rafael whose deep cross is punched away by the man with the head protecter.

39 min Cech pushes a dipping, curling Young shot away from his goal. Decent save. This game: she is alive. Not with the sound of music, mind. More with the sport of football.

38 min Sturridge again! A long shot this time which De Gea beats away well.

36 min GOAL!! Chelsea 1 Man Utd 0 (Evans OG)
Fantastic work from Sturridge, who takes the ball towards the byline from a claustrophoic tight position in the box, after a period of Chelsea dawdling on the ball. The England striker does superbly to get past his man at glorious speed and squares it with pace across the six yard box. De Gea sticks out a leg, the ball comes back of Evans, and it's in.

35 min United beginning to press Chelsea a little bit more enthusiastically now, which means we're suffering through a stop-start period that's not very interesting.

31 min Jones has gone down under Torres' challenge. The Spaniard did clatter into him a little as he was fighting to get past him and to the ball ahead of De Gea, but then Jones stopped suddenly so it's questionable how much Torres could have done about it. He's booked, harshly,

29 min Great play from Ivanovic! Rooney is played in over the top from a lovely Valencia ball and slides it right, past Cech, towards Welbeck. Ivanovic has kept up with him and slides in faultlessly to clear for a corner when Welbeck would almost certainly have scored. Nothing doing from the corner.

27 min Both teams giving the ball away too cheaply. United try an ambitious long free kick towards Rooney. It's far too high for him, they should have taken that opportunity to hang onto the ball for a bit. Shortly afterwards Chelsea try to drible it out of defence again and this time Carrick is on hand to intercept.

25 min Decent punch this time from De Gea from a deep free kick. Chelsea enjoying the majority of the ball now, but we've not seen enough of Mata yet who'd I'd suggest is crucial if they're going to get in behind United.

23 min Chelsea trying to build something down the left. Bosingwa, Malouda, and Essien doing a good job of making themselves available for one another and passing unerringly around United. In the end Bosingwa tries to take it towards the box but he's easily dispossessed by Valencia, and fouls the winger as he attempts to recover the ball.
22 Chelsea just about have the momentum at the moment but aren't doing a great deal with the possession.

21 Torres has space in which to shoot outside the box but slices his attempt well wide of the post. That was the shot from a man clearly low on confidence.

20 Meireles produces a poor delivery into the box which the United defence clear with ease.

19 Fernando Torres, probably still haunted by his embarrassing miss at Old Trafford, is brought down and Chelsea have a free kick around 35 yards out.

18 Mata lofts a high, deep cross into the area which De Gea comes to catch confidently.

17 Ryan Giggs' cross from the left is well cleared by Cahill. Moments later the ball is at Young's feet outside the box before his shot is deflected into Peter Cech's arms.

16 Patient build-up from Chelsea but the move breaks down after a sloppy pass from Juan Mata to Ivanovic on the right wing.15 Possession is pretty equal so far but at the moment I'd just say United are looking a little more dangerous.

14 Young is too keen to get the ball off Branislav Ivanovic on the United left wing and ends up fouling the Chelsea defender.

13 It's been quite a frantic opening to this clash with both sides trying to go for the jugular.

12 An urgent-looking United side keep pressing but Danny Welbeck is flagged offside in this latest attack.

11 Debutant Gary Cahill is in danger of conceding a penalty as he appears to bring down Young just inside the box...but Webb says no penalty.

10 Clearly Chelsea are trying to test De Gea as much as possible in these early stages.

9 Jose Bosingwa unleashes a fierce shot at goal from distance which De Gea is able to save comfortably.8 Ashley Young appeals for a penalty when he goes to ground under pressure from David Luiz but Howard Webb isn't interested.

7 A nervous David De Gea flaps at what should have been an easy catch, instead pushing the ball into the path of Raul Meireles inside the box. Fortunately the goalkeeper's blushes a sparred when Meireles fires into the side netting.

6 The delivery is cleared but only as far as Malouda on the edge of the box. The Chelsea man blasts one at goal which takes a deflection and goes behind for another corner.

5 Sturridge has a shot from distance which takes a deflection before bobbling wide for a corner.

4 Daniel Sturridge shows quick feet to get down the right side of the area before his tame cross is collected by David De Gea.

3 Chelsea come forward through the middle with Florent Malouda but the Frenchman's pass is cut out.

2 Wayne Rooney takes it but his curling effort goes well wide of the goal.

2 The visitors have an early opportunity having been awarded a free kick just outside the area on the left following Michael Essien's foul on Patrice Evra.

1 Manchester United get this clash under way at Stamford Bridge looking for the victory which will take them level on points with leaders Manchester City.

Arsenal 3-2 Aston Villa: Robin van Persie & Theo Walcott on target to overturn two-goal deficit & send Gunners through

Arsene Wenger's men put their recent woes behind them to complete a stunning turnaround at the Emirates, thanks to a devestating second half performance

Three goals in a destructive 10-minute spell turned the game on its head, after Villa deservedly had lead at the break thanks to goals from Richard Dunne and Darren Bent.

Arsene Wenger’s side, who had lost their last three games in all competitions, appeared to be on course for another miserable day until two Robin van Persie penalties and a Theo Walcott effort rescued the day and eradicated their recent woes.

Both teams named strong sides for the encounter, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Van Persie starting for the hosts, whilst Thierry Henry, whose goal dispatched Leeds United in the previous round, had to be content with a place on the bench.

LA Galaxy loanee Robbie Keane continued up front for the visitors following his impressive two-goal haul against Wolves in the league last weekend.

Lukas Fabianski also started in the Arsenal goal in place of first choice keeper Wojciech Szczesny.

The home side started brightly, with a short free-kick leading to Thomas Vermaelen rifling a ferocious 30 yard effort that Shay Given palmed over at full stretch.

Minutes later, Tomas Rosicky’s through ball sent Theo Walcott racing through on goal, but the England international got it all wrong as he skewed horribly wide.

Villa briefly responded when Alan Hutton’s cross found an unmarked Bent, but the Villans' top scorer hesitated as Fabianski charged out of his goal, even though the striker was first in line to reach the ball. 

Although Arsenal looked the more comfortable team in possession, they failed to create any end product and were punished for their lack of urgency just after the half-hour mark.

A short-corner routine lead to Keane clipping the ball into the box, and Dunne rose highest to power a header into the top corner and give the visitors the lead.

Arsenal instantly fought back when Rosicky’s tame shot was spilled by Given, but the Irish keeper gathered the loose ball.

Alan Hutton then carelessly lost the ball in his own box, but Ramsey couldn’t beat the keeper once more from a tight angle.

After Oxlade-Chamberlain saw his ferocious effort saved, Villa capitalised by racing up the other end to double their lead with a classic breakaway goal that exposed the flaws in the hosts' brittle defence once more.

Bent, who had scored six goals in his last eight appearances against Arsenal prior to this fixture, continued his good record against his boyhood club by running onto Stephen Ireland’s precise throughball and clinically tucking the ball home from a tight angle after Fabianski had saved his initial effort.

Arsenal came out a re-energised side after the break, and were unfortunate not to instantly pull a goal back when Per Mertesacker’s header was cleared off the line by Ireland.
The hosts handed themselves a lifeline soon later when Ramsey won a penalty after being cynically felled by Dunne in the area.

Van Persie stepped up to cooly send Given the wrong way and dispatch his 24th goal of the campaign.

Just moments later Hutton’s goal-line clearance fortuitously struck Walcott and bounced into the net after the winger had initially tricked his way through the defence and seen his low shot blocked.

The turnaround was then completed when referee Michael Jones awarded another blatant spot-kick after Laurent Koscielny’s surging run was brought to a halt by Bent, with Van Persie emphatically converting into the roof of the net.

Arsenal had further chances to extend their lead, with man of the moment Van Persie looking to seal his hat-trick by testing Given once more but narrowly blazing Walcott’s cut-back wide.

Villa wasted a good chance to equalise when Ireland’s pacey cross was met by the head of Ciaran Clark, but Fabianski gratefully clung onto the ball.

Thus the Gunners held on for the win and sealed a trip to meet north-east opposition in the next stage of the competition in the form of Sunderland or Middlesbrough.