The Pak Banker

Chelsea wins quarter finals of FA Cup

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Holders Chelsea ground out a 2-0 win at second-tier Middlesbro­ugh on Wednesday to set up an FA Cup quarterfin­al glamour tie at Manchester United. Second-half goals from Ramires and Victor Moses secured victory at the Riverside Stadium as Chelsea bounced back from Sunday's 2-0 loss at Manchester City, which had seen them slip to fourth place in the Premier League.

Victory in the fifth-round tie means Chelsea remain on course for what would be a fifth FA Cup title in seven seasons.

Interim manager Rafael Benitez has complained about fixture congestion in recent weeks, but with his side also still in contention in the Europa League, the European champions look set for a busy few weeks.

Chelsea made eight changes to the side beaten by City at the weekend, with Fernando Torres and skipper John Terry both returning to the starting line-up.

Oscar and Moses also came back into the team and they almost combined to break the deadlock in the 11th minute, but Oscar could not get enough purchase on his shot from his team-mate's cut-back.

Chelsea started authoritat­ively but as the first half wore on, Middlesbro­ugh came back into the game. In the 26th minute, Scott McDonald came close to opening the scoring but his header from Nicky Bailey's right-wing cross drifted narrowly wide of the right-hand post. The hosts went even closer five minutes before halftime, with Petr Cech spilling a shot from Boro winger Mustapha Carayol and obliging Terry to make a hurried clearance.

It therefore came as something of a relief to the visitors when Ramires put them in front six minutes into the second half.

Yossi Benayoun laid the ball back to Ramires and his placed shot from the edge of the box beat goalkeeper Jason Steele with the aid of a slight deflection off the back of the crouching Torres.

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