Chelsea have beaten Everton 2-1 in the first-leg of their Carling Cup Semi-Final at Stamford Bridge, with two goals from Shaun Wright-Phillips - the winner deep into injury-time - and one from Ayegbeni Yakubu. Chelsea played the majority of the second-half with ten-men after John Obi Mikel was shown a straight red-card.

Chelsea opened the scoring from a superb strike in the 26th minute from Shaun Wright-Phillips, with a curling shot past Tim Howard inside the far-post from just yards into the penalty area, with Ayegbeni Yakubu levelling just after the hour-mark.

Despite attempts on goal from Tim Cahill and Joleon Lescott for the visitors, Chelsea had the majority of possession in the first-half.

Joe Cole had an excellent chance to extend the lead just two minutes after the opener, making a superb break after the referee allowed advantage to the home-side, but was beaten in a one-on-one with Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard, with Michael Ballack also forcing Howard into action.

Avram Grant’s team went into half-time with a slender 1-0 lead, and came out for the second-half with exactly the same intent.

Shaun Wright-Phillips forced Howard into another fine save within a minute of the restart, but Chelsea’s luck changed in the 55th minute when Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel was shown a straight red-card for a sliding challenge on Phil Neville, with referee Peter Walton deeming that his studs were showing and the challenge was dangerous.

Despite the somewhat harsh sending-off, Chelsea continued to press, with Claudio Pizarro forcing Howard into another superb one-on-one block to dent the hosts.

Everton equalised just after the hour-mark after a mistake from Chelsea keeper Hilario, who failed to palm the ball away from a set-piece, with Yakubu gathering the loose ball and slamming it home past substitute Steve Sidwell and defender Alex to make it 1-1 with Everton’s first shot on-target.

Chelsea were unperturbed by the sending-off and a couple more chances from Claudio Pizarro almost saw the hosts retake the lead before the Peruvian striker was substituted for Paulo Ferreira in the 83rd minute.

It seemed that Chelsea boss Avram Grant would have been content with a draw to take to Goodison Park, but his team continued to press in the dying minutes of the match and their persistence was rewarded in injury-time as Shaun Wright-Phillips claimed the winner after beating Joleon Lescott to a header close on goal after a superb backwards-lob from Michael Ballack into the danger area.

The match finished 2-1 to Chelsea, a match which Everton boss David Moyes will be devastated to have lost, with The Blues now facing a trip to Goodison Park for the 2nd Leg of the Semi-Final without many of their key-players.

Chelsea Team: Henrique Hilario, Juliano Belletti, Alex, Ricardo Carvalho, Wayne Bridge, Shaun Wright-Phillips, John Obi Mikel, Michael Ballack, Florent Malouda, Joe Cole (Steve Sidwell, 61), Claudio Pizarro (Paulo Ferreiera, 83).

Chelsea Substitutes Not Used: Carlo Cudicini, Tal Ben-Haim, Ben Sahar.

Everton Team: Tim Howard, Tony Hibbert, Joseph Yobo, Phil Jagielka, Joleon Lescott, Tim Cahill, Phillip Neville, Lee Carsley, James McFadden, Andrew Johnson, Ayegbeni Yakubu (Victor Anichebe, 89).

Everton Substitutes Not Used: Stefan Wessels, Jorge Nuno Valente, Thomas Gravesen, James Vaughan.