Joe Cole's goal earned Chelsea a 1-0 win over Everton at Goodison to secure their place in the Carling Cup final against Tottenham next month.The England midfielder scored the decisive goal after 69 minutes to fire Avram Grant into his first showpiece as Blues manager as they recorded a 3-1 aggregate success over David Moyes' battlers to reach their third League Cup final in four years.

Chelsea made a bright start when Alex's free-kick was blasted into the wall, while Shaun Wright-Phillips saw a goal-bound effort from 15 yards deflected wide.

But the first meaningful chance fell to the Toffees, who were unlucky not to take the lead when Joleon Lescott's header was pushed to safety by Petr Cech following Mikel Arteta's right-wing corner.

Back came Chelsea with Nicolas Anelka testing Tim Howard with a low drive, while Florent Malouda fired over the bar from 12 yards after good work by Juliano Belletti.

Andy Johnson then saw a shot deflected wide off Alex as the half drew to a close.

Chelsea were the first to show their teeth as the second half got underway with Anelka rattling the crossbar with a 18-yard effort.

But it was Chelsea who were soon breathing a sigh of relief when Phil Neville's fierce drive produced a fine diving save from Cech, while moments later Phil Jagielka's goal-bound flick was hacked away by the feet of the on-song Czech goalkeeper.

But Chelsea were soon celebrating when Malouda's raking ball was killed dead by Cole and he unleashed a powerful shot into the back of Howard's net from 12 yards.

Everton knew they had it all to do but again found Cech in inspired form when he pushed Johnson's powerful drive over the bar.

The Toffees threw on James Vaughan and Victor Anichebe but there was no way through as Chelsea secured their place against Spurs at Wembley on Sunday 24 February.

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