Chelsea advanced to the fourth round of the FA Cup with a commanding 5-0 win over Morecambe at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Tosin Adarabioyo and Joao Felix each scored twice, while Christopher Nkunku added his name to the scoresheet, eliminating the League Two side from the competition.
Chelsea started strongly and were awarded a penalty in the 16th minute after Yann Sango’o was penalized for handball. However, Nkunku’s spot-kick was brilliantly saved by Harry Burgoyne, who also denied the rebound effort.
Tosin, who had earlier hit the woodwork with a header, broke the deadlock six minutes before halftime when his long-range shot deflected off Callum Jones and found the net.
Nkunku redeemed himself five minutes into the second half, reacting quickly to Renato Veiga’s parried shot to tap the ball home. Chelsea then sealed Morecambe’s fate with three goals in a seven-minute spell. Tosin scored a spectacular long-range strike in the 70th minute, while Felix capped an impressive performance with a brace. His first goal came from a swift counter-attack, and his second, just two minutes later, was a sublime curling effort.
Morecambe came close to a consolation goal late on when Harry Macadam’s header from a corner beat Filip Jorgensen but was cleared off the line by Axel Disasi.
Despite a slightly lackluster first-half performance, Chelsea avoided any FA Cup surprises and ended their four-match winless streak. They have now progressed in 36 of their last 37 FA Cup ties against lower-league teams, including the last 21 consecutive matches since their loss to Bradford City in January 2015.
Chelsea dominated the game with 28 shots, eight of them on target. Although Burgoyne made some excellent saves in the first half, he couldn’t prevent the heavy defeat.
For Morecambe, this result adds to their struggles, as they have now lost all four of their encounters with Premier League opposition by a combined score of 15-1.
