The 2008/2009 FA Cup comes to a climax on the 30th of May 2009, when Chelsea meets Everton in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium in London.

The match, billed at the battle of the Blues, will see ‘big four’ giants Chelsea enter the match as strong favourites, with William Hill pricing the London club as 2/5 favourites to claim their first FA Cup title since 2007.

Everton are the 7/4 dark horses to defeat Chelsea and win their first FA Cup title since their historic victory over Manchester United in 1995.

The 2009 FA Cup final marks the first occasion that the two clubs have met in the final of the FA Cup, despite both teams reaching the final of the tournament several times in the 1960s and 1970s.

While Chelsea has the stronger team on paper, Everton may benefit from their absence from European football and the fact that they are not directly involved in the Premiership title race, as they will be able to field a settled, relaxed team against a Chelsea team spread thin by battle on three fronts.

William Hill has opened antepost match betting markets for the 2009 FA Cup final, giving football fans the opportunity to get the best prices ahead of the biggest day in English club football.

The two coaches of the losing clubs in the weekend’s FA Cup semifinals have taken Wembley Stadium to task for the quality of the pitch.

Both Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson claim that the pitch had a direct impact on the results of their respective FA Cup semifinal matches, with the heavy pitch providing an uneven and sometimes precarious playing surface.

“When I saw the pitch what I didn’t want was to go into extra time with my strongest squad,” Ferguson said after watching his side crash out of the FA Cup after losing a penalty shootout to Everton.

“Yesterday it looked spongy and dead and difficult to move the ball quickly around it. So we had to go with the bold decision of playing the younger ones.”

The new pitch at Wembley Stadium has come under fire a number of times in recent years, with various coaches claiming that the playing surface is both dangerous detrimental to quality football.

“It is not a pitch for a stadium like that,” Wenger told the BBC. “You spend all that money and still have no pitch.”

Saturday, 30th May 2009

15:00 Everton vs. Chelsea

Sunday, 19 April 2009
Everton 0-0 Manchester United (4-2 pen)

Saturday, 18 April 2009
Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal

Manchester United’s dreams of claiming a historic season quintiple went up in smoke on Sunday as Everton claimed victory in the weekend’s second FA Cup semifinal.

Sir Alex Ferguson fielded what amounted to a second-string Manchester United team, giving Everton the edge they needed to secure a spot in the FA Cup final.

With the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney off the park Everton were able to hold their own against United, and held the Red Devils scoreless for the duration of regular time.

A somewhat insipid contest eventually boiled down to a penalty shootout, where Everton ‘keeper Tim Howard put in a brilliant performance to save kicks by Dimitar Berbatov and Rio Ferdinand.

Phil Jagielka blasted home the winner for a delighted Everton team.

“It was a tough game for us. Man United, whoever they play, they could put out their under-14’s and it would have been a tough game because they play to win every competition that they are in,” Everton manager David Moyes said after the match.

“I thought we kept at it, I thought we could have played better at times but Man United made it difficult for us.”

Chelsea qualified for the final of the 2008/2009 FA Cup on Saturday, with a late Didier Dorgba goal consigning Arsenal to a 2-1 defeat.

Arsenal took charge of the weekend’s first FA Cup match with 16 minutes on the clock, as Theo Walcott scored with the help of a deflection off the Chelsea defence.

The Gunners proved to be unable to build momentum, however, and the game soon started losing shape. Chelsea were back on level terms by half time thanks to a Florent Malouda strike.

The second half produced little in the way of quality football, as Arsenal appeared to be short of firepower up front and instead attempted to hold onto the draw.

This conservative approach backfired minutes from time as Didier Drogba scored Chelsea’s second goal, earning his side a place in the FA Cup final.

Chelsea’s caretaker, Guus Hiddink, paid tribute to Drogba after the match, singling out his striker for praise.

“He is very strong and brave because he doesn’t know what is happening behind his back. We don’t demand one goal every game but when he is playing the way he is, others also score.”

Arsenal take on Chelsea in the semifinals of the 2008/2009 FA Cup on Saturday in a game that doubles as a London Derby.

In the past contests between these two sides could be quite venomous, particularly during the Mourinho era, when the Chelsea coach carefully nurtured a feud with Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger.

Today’s match should be free of these undercurrents, as both clubs look to add FA Cup success to their achievements in the UEFA Champions League rather than settle a long-standing feud.

William Hill has priced Chelsea as the 6/4 favourites to win Saturday’s semifinal, while Arsenal are priced 2/1 in the match betting markets.

The odds reflect the fact that Arsenal is struggling with injuries at the moment, as well as the convincing form shown by Chelsea in the Champions League earlier this week.

William Hill is adding to the thrill of the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Arsenal by offering a free $5 correct score bet to all football fans who place a minimum $20 single bet on either team winning the match.

The free-to-air public broadcasting of the FA Cup final is likely to continue for the foreseeable future following the Football Association’s decision to uphold the tournament’s status as a ‘crown jewels’ Group A listed event along with other sports events like the World Cup and European Championship finals.

At present only a handful of football fixtures are available on terrestrial  broadcasters each year, and with these amongst the most-viewed sports events in the United Kingdom, FIFA and UEFA are keen to move them over to the lucrative pay-per-view broadcasting market.

At present the earlier rounds as well as the latter stages of the FA Cup, World Cup and European Championship are all broadcast via cable or satellite broadcasters, with terrestrial channels only permitted to broadcast the climax of these events.

Fans are therefore issuing opposing calls for more football matches to be screened for free by terrestrial broadcasters, with millions being deprived of access to top level English and club football by the current arrangement.

“We believe that the competitive qualifiers should be added to the list under the new review and we hope there will be a wide consultation,” Michael Brunskill of the Football Supporters’ Federation told the Telegraph.

UEFA, Europe’s governing body, is set to make several controversial rulings in the wake of discussions of how football should respond to the negative economic climate in Europe.

English clubs are likely to protest a number of the measures set to be implemented by UEFA. Foremost amongst these is UEFA’s demand that English football pay off all its debts by the end of the 2010 football season or face exclusion from European Football.

“The situation in English football is untenable at present,” said William Gaillard, advisor to Michel Platini. “The top English clubs are billions of dollars in debt, with most of this money spent on player acquisitions.”

“By using debt to purchase the world’s finest players, English clubs force other major European clubs to overspend in order to compete. Clubs who adhere to sound economic principles are penalised by having to field weaker teams.”

According to Gaillard Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea have been put on a 12 step debt reduction plan, that will begin with each debt afflicted club selling its home stadium to UEFA.

“Fans need not be concerned as these clubs will continue to have access to their home stadiums,” Gaillard assured reporters. “However, UEFA will purchase each of these stadiums and will control ticket prices and admission policies in the future.”

UEFA’s decision is likely to provoke outrage in the United Kingdom, with many British football fans likely to percieve these measures as a response to recent English dominance of the Champions League.

Wayne Rooney has revealed that winning the FA Cup at Wembley would fulfill his biggest football abmitions.

“It’s the trophy I wanted to win the most when I was younger,” Rooney told Inside Football. “Like most kids, I grew up dreaming of scoring the winner in a Cup Final at Wembley.”

Rooney, who supported Everton as a youngster, told reporters that the openness of the FA Cup had always appealed to him as the smaller clubs were given a genuine opportunity to get their hands on silverware.

Now playing for Manchester United, Rooney has been on the receiving end of two defeats in FA Cup finals and is yet to fulfill his dream of lifting the historic FA Cup trophy for his club.

“I really want to win it this season,” Rooney said. “That would be a dream come true.”

In order to win the FA Cup Rooney will have to help United defeat his boyhood team in an FA Cup semifinal at Wembley on the 19th of April. The winner of the Manchester United/Everton clash will go on to face the winner of the first FA Cup semifinal between Arsenal and Chelsea.