Cole fires Chelsea back to Wembley

The holders out-played the Merseysiders, who just could not find a way to cancel out Chelsea's one-goal lead from the first leg.

Everton boss David Moyes' side flirted with a first Wembley final in 13 years, but the tie slowly stretched away from them, and Cole's 69th-minute goal ended any hope of Everton reaching their dream. It will now be Chelsea who will face Tottenham at Wembley on February 24.

It was the Londoners who had the first two chances, Alex firing a free-kick into the wall and Shaun Wright-Phillips, who recovered from an ankle injury to start, seeing a 15-yarder deflected wide.

After nine minutes it needed a fine Petr Cech save to his left to keep out a Joleon Lescott header from Mikel Arteta's corner.

Chelsea were happy to defend deep, with just Nicolas Anelka up front, as they soaked up Everton's growing pressure. Anelka, not cup-tied despite only being signed from Bolton between the two legs of this semi-final, tested Tim Howard with a low drive after 28 minutes.

Everton had struggled for clear chances, but Arteta's clever pass gave Andy Johnson the opening for a right-footer, which deflected just wide off Alex. And Chelsea reached the break comfortably in control.

Chelsea almost stunned Everton within a minute of the second-half starting when Anelka found space in the box for a shot that was deflected onto the crossbar by Phil Jagielka.

Everton needed to raise their game to unsettle Chelsea, and slowly they started to achieve that. And Phil Neville saw a fierce effort blocked by Cech before Jagielka's close-range back-heel was turned away by the Chelsea keeper.

But as Everton pressed, Chelsea struck from deep after 69 minutes. Malouda's long ball from the left found Joe Cole, who expertly controlled the ball before his clinical right-foot finished saw Chelsea ahead on the night, and ultimately ensured their place in another Wembley showpiece after their FA Cup triumph at the stadium last season.