Chelsea sealed our place in the Carling Cup semi-final this evening with a 2-0 win over the visitors from Merseyside.
Andriy Shevchenko and Frank Lampard, who had a little bit of help from Jamie Carragher, guaranteed Chelsea's 51st win-in-a-row in all competitions at Stamford Bridge in a game which seemed a stalemate at half-time.
Michael Ballack returned to a winning Blues side after his long rehabilitation while Scott Sinclair proved to be another useful player with pace on the wing.
The last time these two teams met in the Carling Cup, Chelsea ended Liverpool's hopes of winning the title with a 3-2 win in front of 78,000 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, today the feat was achieved in front of a more modest figure of over 41,000.
None of the scorers from that game started this evening. Even Steven Gerrard, who opened the scoring for the Blues that afternoon with an own goal, missed tonight's match due to illness. Didier Drogba is still sidelined because of his knee injury and John Arne Riise began tonight's fixture on the Liverpool bench.
There was a home coming for a lot of the Blues this evening. Ballack returned to the bench after eight months out with an ankle injury while Sinclair took up his role on the left after a loan spell at Queens Park Rangers. Carlo Cudicini remained on the bench as Petr Cech began between the Chelsea posts.
Ricardo Carvalho was back in the line up after his back injury forced him out of the squad in November and Michael Essien returned to the domestic competition after his three match suspension.
Liverpool made nine changes from the team that lost to Manchester United on Sunday with Xabi Alonso returning after missing 10 matches due to a metatarsal injury. Peter Crouch headed the attack instead of Fernando Torres while Ryan Babel and Momo Sissoko both started for the Reds.
The last 10 meetings between the Reds and the Blues have seen four wins a piece and two draws.
The game started with a flurry of blue as Frank Lampard controlled the field in the centre with his usual pin point accurate passing, finding the chests of Sinclair, Juliano Belletti and Shevchenko before a certain gloved Ukrainian won a free-kick on the edge of the box - only for Lampard's subsequent shot to be deflected by the Liverpool wall.
Kalou was to come closest for Chelsea within the first 10 minutes when Itandje denied the Ivorian's curling shot by smashing the ball behind the line for a corner.
The play then evened out as the fans behind each goal tried to out-sing each other with their home team's chants, creating a warming atmosphere on the cold crisp evening.
The fans continued their karaoke competition as the game reached its 25th minute when Alonso made his presence known in the centre circle with an ambitious shot towards Cech's goal.
However, the Chelsea number one was untroubled as the ball flew wide and instead allowed Cech to play a long kick which fell into the path of Lampard who had only Itandje to beat. Unfortunately a clever little chip did not quite reach over the head of the Liverpool keeper as it deflected the ball for a corner.
With 10 minutes to go in the half, both sides had come close. Crouch and Alonso had shots spinning wide while Lucas had managed to force an athletic save from Cech. Not to be outdone, Sinclair and Shevcehnko been denied at the other end by either inaccuracy or Itandje.
It was Essien that made the whole stadium move to the edge of their seats as the Ghanaian launched a screaming shot from the edge of the box which flew across the face of goal and inches past the post.
By the end of the first-half the match was a stalemate in midfield. Despite Chelsea's control of the possession, both keepers had been called into action only a couple of times but were mostly watching the game unfolding metres from the edges of their box.
Within 10 minutes of the start of the second half the stalemate continued. As Lampard's shot flew wide so did Voronin's at the other end. Then Essien was denied by Itandje before Crouch was foiled by Cech.
A change seemed inevitable, the only question was who.
In the 57th minute Avram Grant decided it would be Sinclair who would give way for a fresh pair of legs as Joe Cole came on to play down the right in an attempt to break the deadlock.
It was only seconds later that the feat was achieved, but without the help of Cole. Lampard broke into the box and smashed a shot towards goal but the ball was awkwardly deflected by Carragher and lobbed Itandje in what would have been a perfectly placed chip to find the back of the net.
The game immediately heated up as Nabil El Zhar came on to replace Alonso. No sooner had the Spaniard left the field and there was another player on his way as Crouch was shown the red for a ridiculous challenge on John Mikel Obi right in front of the referee.
The excitement then died as the teams began to re-shuffle. It wasn't until the 68th minute that the stadium sang once again as Ballack came on for the first time this season, replacing Mikel.
With 20 minutes left Chelsea were slowly inching forward with more frequent attacks but without really troubling Itandje between the Liverpool posts. The Reds had lost their panache since Crouch had left the field and seemed to have resorted to placing 10 men behind the ball. In the 73rd minute Rafa Benitez decided to swap Babel with Yossi Benayoun who took up the attacking role alongside Lucas.
There were sighs of relief when Benayoun, Lucas and Voronin all broke through the back line before releasing shots that flew either high or wide.
As the game began to draw to a close Essien, Shevchenko and Lampard had all come close without much Liverpool retaliation the other end.
It was in the 91st minute that the game was sealed when Shevchenko found space in the box to fire home a Bridge cross which bounced off the head of Ballack before falling into the Ukrainian's path where it was smashed home despite a touch from Itandje.
It was Shevchenko's last touch of the game as Steve Sidwell came on to play out the remainder of stoppage time when he replaced the Chelsea number seven in the 93rd minute.
Liverpool still found time to test the Blue defence once more before the final whistle was blown and Chelsea guaranteed their place in the Carling Cup semi-final.
Chelsea (4-3-3) Cech; Belletti, Ben-Haim, Carvalho, Bridge; Essien, Mikel, Lampard; Kalou, Shevchenko (Sidwell 93), Sinclair (J Cole 57).
Scorers Lampard (58), Shevchenko (91)
Liverpool (4-2-3-1) Itandje; Arbeloa, Hobbs, Carragher, Aurelio; Sissoko, Alonso (El Zhar 59); Voronin, Lucas, Babel (Benayoun 73); Crouch.
Sent off Crouch (59)
Watch full coverage of tonight's game on Chelsea TV from midnight, or see the highlights on Chelsea Plus now.
By Christian Collison
