FA Cup quarter-final round-up:Goals have been in short supply for Liverpoolwinger Stewart Downing, but his second of the season secured another trip to Wembley and a possible Merseyside derby with Everton after a 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final win over Stoke.
The England international has not had the start he would have wanted to his Liverpool career and did not score his first until the third-round victory over Oldham in January.
However, if he is saving his best for the knock-out competition, manager Kenny Dalglish will be hoping there is more to come from the 27-year-old with a second trophy of the campaign now tantalisingly within their grasp.
Liverpool will play the winners of the replay between Sunderland and Everton after they drew 1-1 at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Having ended a 16-year wait to play at the national stadium with last month’s Carling Cup triumph, Liverpool are heading back to the capital once again.
As is to be expected against Stoke, it was a hard-fought encounter - where for once this season - the quality of Liverpool’s finishing proved the difference.
Tony Pulis’s side travelled to Anfield knowing the Potters had not won there for 53 years.
And although they did at least put an end to one bad run by scoring their first goal in seven FA Cup encounters against the Merseysiders courtesy of Peter Crouch, they never really threatened an upset after equalising Luis Suarez’s opener.
Fernando Torres finally ended his goalscoring drought as his brace helped Chelseabook another visit to Wembley after a comfortable 5-2 victory over Leicester Cityat Stamford Bridge.
Early goals from Gary Cahill and Salomon Kalou set the Blues on their way as Roberto Di Matteo maintained his 100 per cent winning start to his tenure as Chelsea boss.
Torres added the third after 67 minutes to end a spell of 25 hours 41 minutes of football for Chelsea without scoring. His second came five minutes from time as he flicked home a near-post header with Raul Meireles also scoring in the last minute.
Jermaine Beckford and Ben Marshall grabbed the consolation goals for Leicester, who will now go back to trying to force themselves into the Championship play-off picture.
Chelsea will now meet the winners of the tie between Tottenham Hotspur and Bolton Wanderers that was abandoned following the collapse of Fabrice Muamba on Saturday night.
FA Cup semi-final replay
Liverpool v Everton/Sunderland
Tottenham Hotspur/Bolton Wanderers v Chelsea
Ties to be played over the weekend of April 14th/15th
