There was a feeling of karma around Wembley Stadium today as if the Footballing Gods had decided to pick the FA Cup Final between Wigan Athletic and Manchester City to be the occasion to right the wrongs of the past.

When Wigan owner Dave Whelan led his team out onto the pitch at England's most sacred of venues, few would have believed that he would end the day by exorcising the ghosts of his past, having been stretchered off in the 1960 Final in the pre-substitution era, resulting in his Blackburn Rovers side being thumped 3-0 by Wolves. Whelan had broken his leg that day, virtually ending a promising young career as he would spend the rest of his playing days in the lower leagues, never fully healing from the scars.

Manchester City’s week only got better on Sunday as they followed up that victory over Man United in the league by navigating past Chelsea 2-1 in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. Samir Nasri and Sergio Aguero scored for City either side of the break and deservedly so as they completely dominated proceedings against a muted Chelsea. The FA Cup specialists slowly creeped into the game in the 2^nd half and halved the deficit courtesy of a stunning Demba Ba goal. But there wasn’t to be a dramatic comeback for the Blues as City held on to book their place in the final against Wigan Athletic.Rafa

Benitez sent out a strong message to his players by leaving Frank Lampard, John Terry and Fernando Torres on the bench for the semi-final, choosing to lead the line with Demba Ba instead while Ramires and Jon Obi Mikel formed the midfield partnership. The attacking triumvirate of Oscar, Eden Hazard and Juan Mata were again fielded together behind Ba while Ryan Bertrand and Cesar Azpilicueta stuck to the wings. At the back, David Luiz and Bransilav Ivanovic started in central defence ahead of Petr Cech in goal.

A wonderstrike from Senegalese striker Demba Ba sent Chelsea through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup at the expense of Manchester United as the Blues partially vindicated Rafa Benitez' decision to start a second string outfit at St. Mary's on Saturday. After an insipid first half, the game came alive early in the second period as Ba poked a hopeful lob from Juan Mata into the goal to considerably liven up proceedings. An equally outstanding save from Petr Cech to deny Javier Hernandez kept Chelsea's lead intact, and though Eden Hazard should have buried the game, a crucial late miss from substitute Robin van Persie meant that United's hope for a League and Cup double this season ended in disappointment.

Chelsea's line-up was largely predictable with Demba Ba returning to lead the line with the attacking trio of Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Oscar operating behind him. There was no room in the Chelsea starting eleven for any of the big three with club skipper John Terry, his usual replacement Frank Lampard and beleaguered striker Fernando Torres all amongst the substitutes. Ramires and John Obi Mikel were deployed in central midfield, while Branislav Ivanovic and David Luiz were named as the central defensive pairing. Petr Cech had the captain's armband and had Cesar Azpilicueta and Ashley Cole completed the starting eleven.

The FA Cup draws this season have not failed to disappoint one bit, and last night's Semi-final draw was no exception. Defending Champions Chelsea produced an exceptional fightback against Manchester United at Old Trafford to earn a replay in the late kick-off on Sunday evening, only to learn that the winner of their tie will take on the 2011 FA Cup winners Manchester City in the semi-finals.

In the other half of that rather expensively assembled section of the draw are three sides who would look at the draw now and gasp at what is an excellent opportunity to make it to an FA Cup Final. Wigan, who shocked Everton 3-0 at Goodison Park yesterday, will take on the winner of the Blackburn - Milwall replay after their quarter-final tie today finished goal-less at The Den.

It has been a long time since Rafa Benitez has been credited for his decision making, having been at the receiving end of plenty of verbal abuse from the Chelsea fans over the last few months. However, the Spanish tactician shut up the travelling Chelsea fans this evening, who were chiding him with chants of "You don't know what you are doing" by producing a pair of game changing substitutions which won the Blues a well deserved FA Cup quarter-final replay against Manchester United.

United, coming into this game on the back of their disappointing and rather controversial Champions League exit at the hands of Manchester United, cruised into a 2-0 lead in just 11 minutes after some poor defending from the reigning FA Cup winners.

Chelsea captain John Terry has endured an unhappy marriage with interim manager Rafa Benitez, who is set to further frustrate the veteran defender by leaving him on the bench for the FA Cup quarter-final against Man United later today according to the Daily Mail. Terry has been restricted to occasional cup appearances under Benitez owing to his niggling knee problems and after playing 90 minutes against Steaua Bucharest in midweek, the former English Captain isn’t being trusted to face Robin van Persie and co at Old Trafford.

Terry has made just seven Premier League starts all season and 18 in all competitions, a scanty amount when you consider that Chelsea have played close to 50 games this season. The 32 year old hasn’t enjoyed the best of relationships with Benitez either, questioning the Spaniard during a training ground bust-up recently in addition to blaming the ex-Liverpool boss for Chelsea’s poor run of form.

Three goals in under three and a half minutes in the first half helped Wigan cruise into the semi-finals of the FA Cup for the first time in their illustrious history at the expense of a full strength Everton side, 3-0 at Goodison Park.

Wigan were clearly the better side in the first half as Everton completely forgot to turn up and were lucky not to be behind early when Shaun Maloney saw his curler come back into play off the inside of the post.