'Pool foil Chelsea's double bid

Liverpool reached the FA Cup final and foiled Chelsea's bid for the league-Cup double with a 2-1 victory in their semi-final at Old Trafford yesterday.

Rafael Benitez's side will play either Middlesbrough or West Ham, who meet in the other semi-final at Villa Park today, in the May 13 final in Cardiff.

"To win this game was amazing... I think in the end the players worked so hard, we deserved to win," said Benitez, relieved that his team withstood Chelsea's late onslaught.

Liverpool went ahead midway through the first half when John Arne Riise scored from a free-kick, curling a low shot between Paulo Ferreira and Frank Lampard at the near end of the wall and past unsighted keeper Carlo Cudicini.

Chelsea conceded the second goal from a throw-in on the right on 53 minutes when a poor headed clearance fell to Luis Garcia. The Spaniard raced away from three defenders to hit a dipping shot high into the far top corner.

Didier Drogba put Chelsea back into the game with 19 minutes to go when Liverpool made a hash of clearing the ball and keeper Jose Reina, racing off his line, was caught out of position by the striker's header.

It was Benitez's second win against Jose Mourinho's Chelsea in 10 meetings in all competitions after the Merseysiders put the Londoners out of the Champions League in the semi-finals almost a year ago.

Drogba had missed two good chances in the first half, the first when he headed wide after Hernan Crespo had flicked on Frank Lampard's corner from the right.

The Ivory Coast striker also finished badly with a shot well wide past the advancing Reina after breaking between the central defenders to chest down a high ball out of defence.

Liverpool's Garcia had been guilty of two misses before his brilliant goal, especially when he scooped the ball over the bar with the net at his mercy after Gerrard's fine pull-back from the right in first-half stoppage time.

With Liverpool clearly the better side for the first hour, Cudicini made two saves, both to his left, first from Xabi Alonso's shot and later from Garcia.

Chelsea captain John Terry headed Arjen Robben's free-kick into Reina's net early in the second half but the goal was disallowed because the England defender had both hands on Riise's shoulders when he jumped.

In Premier League action, Thierry Henry came off the bench to salvage a 1-1 draw for Arsenal against Tottenham Hotspur in a highly-charged final north London derby at their Highbury stadium earlier in the day.

The Frenchman, one of several first choice players left out of the starting line-up by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, produced a sublime 84th-minute finish to cancel out Robbie Keane's controversial opener for Tottenham.

Tottenham, who remain four points above Arsenal in fourth place and on course to claim the final Champions League qualification berth, ended with 10 men after Edgar Davids was shown a red card.

Portsmouth moved out of the relegation zone when a late penalty from Matthew Taylor gave them a 2-1 victory over already doomed Sunderland. They swapped places with Birmingham who could only draw 0-0 at Everton.

West Brom look certain to join Sunderland after a 3-0 defeat at Newcastle left them six points from safety.

Wenger's decision to leave Henry, Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Eboue on the bench with an eye on Tuesday's Champions League semi-final against Villarreal looked to have backfired.

Tottenham dominated the first half, with Jermain Defoe, Aaron Lennon and Michael Carrick all wasting chances to give Martin Jol's impressive side the lead.

Defoe smashed one effort into the face of Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann, while Carrick shot into the side-netting seconds before half-time after dribbling around Lehmann.

An entertaining encounter exploded into controversy after 66 minutes when Keane's close-range finish from Davids's cross provoked a furious touchline exchange between Wenger and Jol.

Wenger was upset that Carrick did not kick the ball into touch when Arsenal players Gilberto and Eboue lay grounded after they clattered into each other. Instead Carrick played in Davids who picked out the unmarked Keane to score his 16th goal of the season.

Jol's side will finish fourth if they win their last two matches of the season against Bolton at home and West Ham away.