Avram Grant believes Petr Cech is back to his world-beating best after the Czech goalkeeper celebrated becoming a father for the first time by playing a key role in sending Chelsea into a League Cup final date with Tottenham.

Cech, whose standing as the best goalkeeper in the Premier League has been dented by some uncharacteristic lapses this season, made four outstanding saves as Chelsea beat Everton 1-0 in their semi-final second leg to go through 3-1 on aggregate.

His superb performance came hours after his wife Martina had given birth to a baby girl, Adela, back home in Prague.

"Petr showed again that he is certainly amongst the best goalkeepers in the world. He did not make a single mistake," said Grant.

"He had a long night awake, talking to his family on the phone back home in Prague. He was delighted with his new baby and overjoyed for his wife. And after all that emotion he was able to play a game like that to get Chelsea to Wembley."

Chelsea are now just one match away from retaining the League Cup and claiming their first trophy since former Israel boss Grant succeeded Jose Mourinho as manager.

The Blues are still firmly in the race for the Premier League title as well as having shots at silverware in the FA Cup and Champions League.

Grant added: "Everybody has to respect what Chelsea have been doing in the last few months. We are winning a lot of games, not just in the league but in the Champions League and the cups.

"It is not easy, we have been without lots of players. People thought we would not succeed as much as before, but we are now in a Wembley final, we are four points off top spot in the league and in the next round of the Champions League. I am happy.

"We are in a very good position in everything. We will do everything to win every game. You can see how we have fought against Everton twice and Liverpool in the Carling (League) Cup and we are now in the final."

Everton failed to live up to the expectations of a home crowd that generated a terrific atmosphere at Goodison Park in the hope of roaring their side into what would have been their first final since they won the 1995 FA Cup.

Manager David Moyes admitted his side had lacked the necessary quality in front of goal to exploit the predictably few chances Chelsea conceded.

"We did well, but was it the luck of the bounce or poor positioning, I don't know. We had only a few chances and in semi-finals when things break, you have to take your chances. We didn't.

"We had a fine chance with a header from (Joleon) Lescott in the first half, if that had gone in it may have been different. It was a brilliant effort from the players, we played well in several periods of the game.

"But we need to find that bit extra that gets you to cup finals, that wins semi-finals. We need to find that special, magic, ingredient."

The Scot added: "As a club we are making progress. Now we have to concentrate on doing well in the UEFA Cup and getting into the top four in the league."

An uninspiring contest was at least graced by a decisive moment of real quality, Joe Cole gathering Florent Malouda's 40-yard diaganol pass with a superb first touch before stroking the ball past Everton's American goalkeeper, Tim Howard.

The goal, which will have caught the eye of watching England coach Fabio Capello, came with just over 20 minutes to go and it left Everton with little prospect of overturning the first-leg deficit.