Paul Robinson cannot wait to face Liverpool at the weekend after Blackburn's dramatic surge into the Carling Cup semi-finals.

Rovers beat Barclays Premier League leaders Chelsea in the quarter-finals at Ewood Park on Wednesday.

The game finished 3-3 after extra-time, but with the help of Robinson's heroics, Blackburn won the shoot-out 4-3 to set-up a two-legged semi-final with Aston Villa.

Blackburn now face Villa three times in January, with an FA Cup third-round tie also to negotiate.

Next up at Ewood on Saturday are an erratic Liverpool, who are desperately fighting to maintain their place in the top four.

But after the victory over an inexperienced Chelsea side, the arrival of Liverpool holds no fears.

Robinson said: "Bring on Liverpool. The cup run is a huge boost for our confidence.

"Okay, that wasn't Chelsea's first-team, but it was still a pretty decent side they had out.

"We did a good job on them and now we have Liverpool on Saturday and they will not be looking forward to that.

"It will be a difficult game but they won't be too keen on playing us in this form and at Ewood where our record has been fantastic.

"We always have confidence now at home, so we do not have any fears about Liverpool coming here next."

Robinson was delighted with the overall performance against Chelsea, adding: "It was a great game and a great night for everyone here. Amazing.

"On the balance of play we deserved to win. After 90 minutes we deserved to win, and then in extra time.

"Chelsea equalised during injury time in extra-time, and I am very disappointed with that goal.

"I didn't deal with the cross like I should have done, it was a really difficult time to do something like that.

"As a goalkeeper I felt that I had to make amends for that and hopefully the penalty shoot-out did just that.

"I had to get focused. It was such a late stage of the game to do something like that, it was very disappointing.

"But I had to get it out of my mind quickly, to concentrate on the penalties, not just for me, but for the lads.

"We'd had a lot of chances during the game but in particular in the second period of extra-time when we really should have sewn things up.

"It had been like that right through the game. We deserved to go through, our home performances have been very good over the past year with only a couple of defeats.

"We have taken a few hammerings in away games but we enjoy playing at Ewood Park and our home record is fantastic.

"Sam Allardyce comes back to work this weekend and we have only lost one of the four games while he's been away.

"I know he was keeping in touch with the Chelsea game and I suppose all the drama was a good test for him and the heart surgery he has had.

"This cup run has got us in the right frame of mind, it has become a springboard for our league form. Hopefully by the end of December we will be in a position to be looking up the league rather than down."

Chelsea's third defeat of the season left boss Carlo Ancelotti taking the flak for a string of debatable decisions.

He fielded a weakened side missing seven regulars and then used all three substitutes at half-time to salvage the game.

It initially worked, with Chelsea fighting back to take a 2-1 lead, but they then lost Salomon Kalou with a groin injury which left them with 10 men for almost 50 minutes.

Ancelotti then decided that teenager Gael Kakuta should take the decisive penalty, which was saved by Robinson.

Ancelotti said: "We had priorities this week with league games against Arsenal and Manchester City. I felt we fielded a strong team.

"But in the first half they did not play well. That is why I used all three substitutes, it is not something I usually do.

"Then we were unlucky to have Salomon Kalou injured in the second half, and that meant we were left with 10 men. It was just unfortunate, but we still played well with 10 against 11.

"As for using Kakuta for that last penalty, it was my decision. I have seen him take good penalties during training and I felt he could handle it."