Sturridge goal sends AVB’s men through

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Everton 1 Chelsea 2 (after extra time)

Daniel Sturridge’s winner four minutes from the end of extra time settled an incident-packed tie and sent Chelsea into the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup.

Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka missed an early penalty before his team took a 38th-minute lead through Salamon Kalou, whose shot was horribly fumbled by Jan Mucha.

Twelve minutes into the second half, Blues goalkeeper Ross Turnbull was sent off after bringing down Louis Saha and the resulting penalty by Leighton Baines was saved by substitute keeper Petr Cech.

That looked like being enough to send Andre Villas-Boas’ side into the last eight, but Saha headed in the equaliser with seven minutes of normal time remaining.

Everton were themselves reduced to 10 men in extra time, when Royston Drenthe fouled Ryan Bertrand and was sent off for a second bookable offence.

And with a penalty shoot-out looming, Sturridge pounced on the loose ball to score after hapless keeper Mucha failed to hold Malouda’s shot.

Anelka putting his spot-kick wide after the excellent Josh McEachran was brought down by Johnny Heitinga was not the start required by a team left cursing their luck after Sunday’s derby defeat at QPR, where Jose Boswingwa and Didier Drogba were sent off.

But Villas-Boas’ men then enjoyed some good fortune when Mucha inexplicably allowed Kalou’s weakly-struck lob from the edge of the box to slip through his grasp and into the net.

After the break, however, Chelsea were again hit by a controversial dismissal.

Turnbull was red-carded after clattering into Saha but did not appear to be the last man back, as David Luiz was covering.

Enter Cech, whose first and second touches were to save Baines’ penalty and the left-back’s attempt to blast in the rebound, with Tim Cahill heading wide with his follow-up.

But Cech was beaten by a blistering Drenthe free-kick that struck the bar – and again when Saha met Seamus Coleman’s cross at the near post to level for the Merseysiders.

Dutchman Drenthe, who scored a brilliant goal against Fulham on Saturday, was again impressive so the visitors were probably glad to see the back of him once he was given his marching orders.

They were certainly glad when Sturridge showed his predatory instincts to net his fifth goal of the season and take them through.