ROBERTO DI MATTEO has complained of a failure of common sense after it was announced Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham will kick off at 6pm on Sunday, April 15th – 48 hours later than the club had pleaded for.
The Chelsea interim manager had wanted their semi-final to be on the Friday night to give his club more time to recover ahead of a possible Champions League semi-final first leg against Barcelona or Milan on Wednesday, April 18th.
Those hopes have been dashed however and, with ITV pushing to show the match at prime time on Sunday rather than lunchtime, the FA has decided it will start at 6pm.
That kick-off time will also avoid a clash with Manchester United’s Premier League match against Aston Villa which is being screened live on Sky at 4pm.
Di Matteo said: “We’ve tried to communicate and co-operate with the FA. It’s probably disappointing, I’d say that common sense hasn’t prevailed.
“We’ve tried to cooperate with the authorities and given them our point of view. It seems that it’s not been really taken into consideration. I’d be happy with a Friday night kick-off, yes. That’s what I’d be happy with.”
Details for both FA Cup semi-final ties at Wembley are: the Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea tie will kick off at 6pm on Sunday, April 15th (televised on ITV1), while the Merseyside derby tie – Liverpool v Everton – will be on Saturday April 14th, kicking off at 12.30pm (televised on ESPN).
The Everton v Liverpool kick-off on the Saturday will see thousands of football fans leaving Merseyside as racing folk gather for the Grand National at Aintree the same day.
Spurs and Chelsea featured in the first all-London FA Cup final in 1967 but this will be the first time that they have met in an FA Cup semi-final. Spurs have won the FA Cup eight times, most recently in 1991, while Chelsea’s six wins include three at the new Wembley – 2007, 2009 and 2010.
It will be the third time that Liverpool and Everton have met each other at Wembley in the competition, with Liverpool winning FA Cup finals against their neighbours under the old twin towers in 1986 and 1989.
Liverpool have won the FA Cup seven times, most recently at the Millennium Stadium in 2006, while the last of Everton’s five wins came in 1995.
Meanwhile, Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers has branded speculation linking him with a move to Tottenham as “disrespectful” to Harry Redknapp.
Rodgers, 39, has won plenty of plaudits for guiding Swansea into the top half of the Premier League table with an attractive possession style of play.
The performances of the south Wales club, which have included outstanding home wins over Arsenal and Manchester City, have led to the Northern Irishman being linked with moves to Spurs and Chelsea.
Reports in two national newspapers yesterday morning suggested that Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is eyeing Rodgers as a potential replacement should Redknapp take over as full-time England manager.
But Rodgers was quick to reiterate his commitment to Swansea and said any talk of someone replacing Redknapp while the former Portsmouth, West Ham and Southampton manager is still in the job was unfair.
He said: “People need to fill pages in papers and they need discussion points. But my only focus is Swansea and Harry’s only focus will be Tottenham and I just think it’s disrespectful talking about him and the job he is in.
“He loves being at Tottenham and I know from talking to him when he was here in December that he enjoys being there.
“Likewise with myself, my only concentration and focus is on this job and trying to retain our status over the next eight games in this league.”
