Rafa Benitez has long arrive at accept the truth that he will keep Stamford Bridge in May unloved, unheralded and unlamented but, whatever happens between now and then, he'll also have 1 April. Today was the standout result of Benitez's largely disappointed 17 months in control of a club that has descended in to recrimination and anger since his appointment a and if he wanted reassurance of the need for beating Manchester United in the FA Cup, it was the very fact that he was spared his common punishment. At the ultimate whistle, Benitez tugged his coat around him, shook Sir Alex Ferguson's hand for the next time that morning and left Stamford Bridge to its own festivities. After dropping to Southampton on Saturday, being allowed to fall away was much better the consequences of another defeat. Lately, Chelsea have, in the modern parlance, possessed the FA Cup, therefore a spot in the semi-finals against Manchester City on 14 April is the very least the support expect. This Chelsea team, which had six changes from the medial side that dropped at St Mary's, did not overrun United, but in the moments that really mattered a' those moments once the finesse of the really leading people tells a' it absolutely was Chelsea who prevailed. Those two events were Demba Ba's professionally taken target soon after half-time and then Petr Cech's preserve from Javier Hernandez only after the hour. It's been an unusual season at Chelsea, even by their own high standards in that group, but the feeling today was that this staff has the potential to challenge next season. Eden Hazard and Oscar may have another year under their belts; Juan Mata gets better and better; and should they can only find another striker and some poor soul to control the staff then there could yet be a concept challenge. For the time being they've to ponder the price tag on success. First of, a personal injury to Ashley Cole, whose hamstring gave out as he went through the items in a chase with Danny Welbeck down the wing in the first half. Secondly, there's the prospect of fixture congestion if the Europa League semi-finals are reached by them, including the risk of having to play 15 games in 45 days, starting on Thursday, to the end of the season. Once again, Benitez will undoubtedly be forced into making difficult choices about his team alternatives as the large activities come often in the last eight months of the year. He knows that each and every Chelsea manager's concern would be to ensure the team's participation in the Champions League, the prospect of winning the Europa League or the FA Cup, or both, is going to be sorely attractive for a boss surrounded on all sides. While Ferguson made seven changes from the medial side that defeat Sunderland on Saturday, yesterday, the first string was unleashed by him on United, which meant Frank Lampard and John Terry were on the bench. There clearly was no Wayne Rooney again a' he has a crotch issue that needs to be solved over time for the Manchester City game on Monday. Robin van Persie was a substitute who couldn't change the overall game when he got on. It's eight appearances for Van Persie today with out a target and, as for United, they find themselves in an unusual kind of limbo. They are strolling to the league title and, though it will be excellent for them to beat City on Monday, there's not the crucial to do this. In lots of respects it's been a great period for them, and they will see it that way, but right now there is the unavoidable sense that it could have been greater when they look right back on it. It'd not took a efficiency from United to win this game but in the end they didn't come close. Rio Ferdinand was merely a fraction too late finding tight to Ba when Mata picked him out with a ball into the place and it was taken by the striker on the full, guiding as opposed to raging it past David delaware Gea, who had no chance at all. All in, it was a poor Cup tie between two sides who looked set on doing the least possible needed to win the overall game. Hernandez's header from Welbeck's ball to the back post was heading in the opposite direction to Cech's leap but he were able to readjust and make the save brilliantly. Van Persie had a late possibility from Patrice Evra's corner he could not carry on target. In the first half, Welbeck had viewed the pick of United's side, switching from the central role behind Hernandez, to out on the proper side, where he undergone Cole. He, like lots of his team-mates, faded in the 2nd half. Where he is able to exert influence out on the left side, Tom Cleverley seemed very far from the parts of the message. Michael Carrick also fought after the break. When Ferguson cast around for an option to jolt his part back in life it had been Ryan Giggs to whom he eventually turned. Giggs' baseball to Hernandez that eluded David Luiz was entered back in by Antonio Valencia but Van Persie failed again with the header. Otherwise United thought strangely flat, even in these closing stages when they were fighting to stay in an opposition they've not gained now in eight seasons. At the start of the fit, as he waited for Benitez, Ferguson made a place of shaking Lampard's hand a' an appealing time, provided the latter's free agent position in the summer. The United director identified Valencia as the only player who'd lived around the requirements expected of him, along with, he said, Phil Jones, in the initial phases of the game. Ferguson could not ignore the fact that the impulse that has made United in 2013 in to the "killing machine" a as Joe Hart memorably explained them a was badly missing. Their game could not be raised by them above mediocre against competitors have been not playing at the top of their capacity either. Yet as ever with the modern FA Cup, the major issues lay elsewhere, especially category games and Champions League diploma. Managing professions don't live or die by their FA Cup shows, nowadays but Benitez is only too aware that when he wins one, it will be another bulwark against those who might seek to decrease him. Substitutions: Chelsea Bertrand (Cole, 21), Moses (Oscar, 90), Torres (Ba, 90). Man Utd Van Persie (Cleverley, 61), Giggs (Nani, 65), Young (Welbeck, 80). Booked: Chelsea Bertrand, Azpilicueta, Mata, Oscar. Person Utd Cleverley. Person of the match Mata. Fit standing 6/10. Possession: Chelsea 44%. Man Utd 56%. Efforts on target: Chelsea 5. Guy Utd 2. Referee G Dowd (Staffordshire). Work 40,704. 13 April Millwall v Wigan 14 May Chelsea v Man Area Both connections to happen at Wembley As Sir Alex Ferguson stated, Demba Ba's excellent purpose was nearly a carbon copy of his attack for Newcastle United in the 3-0 win over Ferguson's area on 4 January 2012. On that occasion, after picking right up Shola Ameobi's knock-down, Ba hooked the ball past Anders Lindegaard in to the far corner under pressure from Rio Ferdinand. The same defender got on the wrong side of Ba yesterday after Juan Mata's exceptional lofted pass and could only look on because the same consequence unfolded.
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