WEMBLEY, England - The expectant walk up Wembley Way. A sea of blue. Goosebumps on the neck as "Abide with Me" rings round the stadium. 

The magic of the FA Cup lives on and in prospect a David v Goliath clash which reflects the new realities of football.

Everton, fifth in the Premier League, take on Chelsea, just two places above them, but worlds apart in terms of resources and expectation.

Everton so short of players mid-season that they play for a while without a recognized striker with the invaluable Tim Cahill filling in admirably.

Chelsea, who could afford to leave Didier Drogba sulking on the sidelines until the arrival of Guus Hiddink re-energized the team.

Both he and Nicolas Anelka set to form a formidable partnership up front as Chelsea bid to shrug off the disappointments of losing out so narrowly to Barcelona in the Champions League, no disgrace there on reflection.

Everton chasing a first trophy under David Moyes and so deservedly in the final having beaten Liverpool, Aston Villa and Manchester United on the way to the Wembley showpiece.

It's not quite second-flight Sunderland upsetting all-conquering but unloved Leeds in 1973, or Wimbledon's Crazy Gang coming out on top against Liverpool, but an Everton victory would be still be against the odds.

The club's chiefs could not be more different. Everton's Bill Kenwright a theatrical impressario with a shrewd eye for a hit, in this case Moyes. Chelsea's Roman Abramovich a Russian billionaire with a ruthless streak who has dispatched Mourinho, Grant and Scolari and temporarily settled on Hiddink.

FA Cup victory for Abramovich would represent a morsel of consolation, for Kenwright it would be a full scale banquet.

But the FA Cup is no respecter of reputations and when the underdogs scored after just 25 seconds through Louis Saha's emphatic volley it was clear that Chelsea would have to work for their victory. 

The noise from the Everton fans reached a crescendo, but before long they were silenced as Florent Malouda crossed for Drogba to head home.

Poor Tony Hibbert was suffering from twisted blood syndrome on the left as he tried to cope with Malouda and was unceremoniously hauled off at half time to be replaced by little-known Dane Lars Jacobsen.

But the Chelsea second half substitution spelt out the gulf in quality in the two squads as German captain Michael Ballack replaced Ghana powerhouse Michael Essien.

Saha might have put the Toffees ahead for the second time but his header was over and soon afterwards Frank Lampard drove the winner past Tim Howard.

Malouda, who I thought should have been man of the match ahead of Ashley Cole, could have finished the game off with two more close efforts, the second possibly crossing the line off the underside of the crossbar (further proof if any needed for TV cameras to decide these close calls).

It was impossible not to feel sympathy for Everton and their fanatical fans, but Hiddink has worked his magic again, inspiring an underperforming big-name squad to step up to the plate.

It was no surprise that the biggest cheer of the afternoon was reserved for the Dutchman as he lifted the trophy.

What price Abramovich making him an offer he can't refuse to stay on at Stamford Bridge next season ?

While for teams like Everton, the FA Cup offers the best hope of silverware, aka Portsmouth in 2008, and that's why it's such a favorite with supporters and the players too, who for all their mega salaries and inflated egos just want to get their hands on a piece of history.

Arsenal captain William Gallas is under fire today, having been photographed leaving a London nightclub in the early hours with an unlit cigarette in his hand.

Arsene Wenger, known in the game for his strict discipline and attention to health and fitness, has condemned his captain’s behaviour as “unacceptable,” although he’s standing by him. (The Frenchman has upset Arsenal fans before with his sulky attitude on the field and occasional dodgy defending.)

Gallas isn’t the first to draw ire for this dirty habit: Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov have also been caught red-handed with a sneaky cig.

Is Wenger right? Is it unacceptable for footballers to smoke? Or does the odd smoky treat make little difference to players at the top of their game?

The long-established right of football fans to barrack and jeer and vent their frustrations was drawn into question by two separate international incidents in this week's World Cup qualifying matches.

Fans at the friendly between France and Tunisia this week jeered through the French national anthem.

First up was Ashley Cole during England's 5-1 win over Kazakhstan at Wembley. The Chelsea left back was subjected to a continual chorus of boos after making a disastrous error which handed the visitors a goal at a crucial period during the second half.

Stand-in England captain Rio Ferdinand was quick to jump on a bandwagon saying the disgruntled fans "should be ashamed of themselves" and other teammates also rallied round Cole, who it must be said is hardly the most popular member of the England squad after his well-publicized indiscretions on and off the field.

Fans might have forgiven him for apparently engineering a lucrative move from Arsenal to Chelsea, earning him the nickname "Cashley," or his alleged cheating on his popular British popstar wife, but the final straw was his abject back pass to an opposition player who could scarcely believe his luck.

Having paid a small fortune in these credit-crunch times to buy a Wembley ticket, might not fans might feel entitled to let off a little steam as England labored to beat the world's 131st-ranked team whose combined weekly earnings probably don't match those of Cole?

I would not have been among those jeering Cole - well, perhaps only for a moment - but if the fragile egos of our multi-million-pound footballers cannot stand a few catcalls then heaven help them in the more pressurized atmosphere of the World Cup finals.

Three days later and a furious row erupted as the French national anthem was drowned out before the start of a "friendly" international against Tunisia at the Stade de France in Paris.

The majority of the crowd was of North African origin and it did not appear to affect the French too badly as they ran out 3-1 winners.

But the snubbing of "La Marseillaise" infuriated French politicians and dignitaries who attended the match: the sports minister was summoned to meet president Nicolas Sarkozy, who himself called the incident "scandalous."

The solution seemed heavy-handed in the extreme as ministers and sports officials threatened to call off matches on the spot if such scenes were repeated.

UEFA chief Michel Platini said the idea was "absurd," a rare moment of clarity from the former French international hero who recently criticized English teams for losing their identity by playing too many foreign players while neglecting to point out that he had spent much of his playing career playing in Italy for Juventus with a host of other overseas players.

French Communist Party leader Marie-George Buffet, a former sports minister, offered an analysis that is even more uncomfortable for Sarkozy and his government.

"So we stop the match, then what? Is it going to solve the problem of these men and women who in a way are expressing that they don't feel right in our country?" she said.

All this in a week when European governing body UEFA finally acted decisively to deal with the totally unacceptable racist chanting that occurred in Atletico Madrid's Champions League game at home to Marseille.

Racist, sexist and homophobic chanting clearly has no place in civilized society. Other forms of barracking used also to be tolerated, but for how much longer?

Over to you: Is booing taboo? Should it be banned?