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Mourinho turns up trumps again
Jon Brodkin at Craven Cottage

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Fulham 1 Chelsea 2: Chelsea remain on course for an unlikely quadruple but were grateful to a horrible goalkeeping error by Edwin van der Sar for their place in the semi-finals.

Fulham's hugely determined display seemed set to bring extra-time until the Dutchman, given a rare start in place of the injured Mark Crossley, allowed a shot by the substitute Frank Lampard to slip over him.

Van der Sar had earlier made a couple of saves and suffered bad luck when Damien Duff's deflected shot found the net to give Chelsea the lead, but Fulham fought back to equalise when Brian McBride turned in a cross by the substitute Elvis Hammond. Even in defeat they can take pride in a spirited performance.

Chelsea had won 4-1 here last month and the rotation here indicated manager Jose Mourinho's desire to keep people in good condition rather than a lack of interest in this competition.

A front three of Arjen Robben, Didier Drogba and Duff was hardly low-key.

Fulham's manager Chris Coleman had spoken of fear that Chelsea might run up "a cricket score" if his team performed as ineptly as against Blackburn, but such words were presumably designed to motivate players he had accused of performing arrogantly.