The 30-year-old Australian did a lot of hold-up work for the Toffees throughout the match, as Louis Saha's double saw off Chelsea who took the lead on 17 minutes through Florent Malouda.

Cahill was involved in the lead-up to a half-chance for Leighton Baines, before Saha equalized later in the first stanza from a Landon Donovan corner.

The Frenchman then had a chance to put Everton ahead after Donovan won a penalty, but Saha's shot was saved by Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech.

Cahill again was involved in the build-up for a late first-half Leon Osman chance which he sent wide, with the Australian doing well to hold the ball up before teeing up his teammate.

But on 75 minutes, Everton made their pressure count when Saha fired a brilliant winner to claim a good victory.

Elsewhere in the Premier League overnight, Brett Emerton started and played 70 minutes, spurning a good second-half chance with a weak shot, as Blackburn defeated Hull City 1-0.

For the Tigers, Richard Garcia was an unused substitute while Vince Grella was again not in the squad despite recovering from a thigh problem.

In Scotland's Premier League, Trent McClenahan was back playing a full game for Hamilton Academical as they claimed a much-needed 2-0 win at Dundee United moving the Accies out of bottom spot.

Elsewhere in the SPL, Danny Invincibile was an unused sub as Kilmarnock won 1-0 at Falkirk.

In Turkey's Kupasi, Lucas Neill played a full game for Galatasaray, but he couldn't help his side progress as they were surprisingly knocked out at the quarter-final stage by Mile Jedinak's Antalyaspor.

Galatasaray won the second-leg of the tie 3-2 in Istanbul, but after losing the first-leg in Antalya 2-1, Jedinak's team go through on away goals. Jedinak did not feature for Antalyaspor.

In Belgium's Beker van Belgie, Nikita Rukavytsya's KSV Roeselare had their semi-final first-leg against Cercle Brugge postponed due to snowy weather with a new date yet to be confirmed.

In Greece's Cup, Craig Moore's Kavala had their quarter-final clash with Panionios suspended.