English Premier League clubs Aston Villa and Chelsea are two of ten teams that were scheduled to play the FA Cup Fourth Round Replays after their stalemates in the initial game, with the rest of the eight clubs being Southampton Watford, Coventry, Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth Argyle, Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Bristol City. The Blues travelled to Villa Park for their FA Cup Fourth Round Replay last night, and Mauricio Pochettino can certainly be proud with his team’s showing, as they overcame the Villains with ease on enemy territory via a 3-1 score line after the full 90 minutes plus added time.
The Blues Showed Early Dominance Against the Villains in this FA Cup Fourth Round Replay
Chelsea went on to lose their next two games in the English top-flight football after their goalless draw against last night’s opponents in the FA Cup Fourth Round, to Liverpool 4-1 at Anfield and Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-2 at Stamford Bridge. With the goal of avoiding a three straight defeat in all competitions in mind, the Blues stormed to a 3-0 lead over the home team at Villa Park with some of the finest goals football fans will ever see.
Nicolas Jackson was seen alone at the left flank, and the Gambian striker travelled to the penalty box with ease, before a cross to the middle area. Noni Madueke was the man who caught the ball, but realising that he did not have the space to pull off a shot, he intelligently set up Conor Gallagher for the opening goal of this FA Cup Fourth Round Replay.
Chelsea did not wait long to double their lead in the FA Cup Fourth Round Replay tie against the Villains at the latter’s home, and Jackson was again involved in the attacking play, this time becoming the goal scorer. 20-year-old Malo Gusto delivered a delicious cross in the 21st minute, and the unmarked Jackson made a free header for the Blues’ second goal without having to jump, taking that 2-0 advantage into the second 45 minutes of this FA Cup Fourth Round Replay clash.
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Leeds United Next for Chelsea After Their FA Cup Fourth Round Replay Win
Chelsea showed no mercy against the home team Villa in the FA Cup Fourth Round Replay, and the icing on the cake was completed with a stunning freekick set piece by 2022 FIFA World Cup-winning midfielder Enzo Fernández. Youri Tielemans was penalised for having a challenge on Fernández, and the Argentine was given the opportunity to punish his opponents from 25 yards, which he did by finding the top left corner of the Villa goal, beating his compatriot and fellow world champion Emiliano Martínez with both power and angle.
Aston Villa did pull one back in the first few seconds of the injury time in the second half, following substitute Moussa Diaby’s long-ranged effort outside the dangerous zone that brushed the post before ending in the back of the net. However, the replacement’s strike was as far as Unai Emery’s side could go in this FA Cup Fourth Round Replay, meaning Chelsea are safely through to the next round of the oldest football competition in the world in the 2023/2024 Season, and will face Leeds United next, following the Whites’ own FA Cup Fourth Round Replay victory over Plymouth Argyle.
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Head Coaches on the FA Cup Fourth Round Replay
Pochettino understood the difficulty of his role when he decided to become a Chelsea manager, and the Blues at the moment should not be compared to the dominant London outfit two decades ago. “We need to stop this thing that we are Chelsea from 20 years ago. We are not this type of Chelsea anymore. Now we need to move on and we need to create this project. We need to move on, I don’t care if people are happy or not happy with my speech. I care for the club, I care for my players, I want to help the players.”
The Argentine continued to add about Chelsea’s performance in last night’s FA Cup Fourth Round Replay against Aston Villa: “We are going to fight, I don’t care what the people say. I’m not more sad or happy today after a win because we have experience, this type of project needs time and trust. We cannot build a team to challenge because you need to fix too many things, you need to observe, analyse and compete. We are building a project which may be one year, two years, three years. Today you can see we were ready to fight. We fight for the fans, the badge, the coaching staff. Now the challenge is to be consistent.”
The losing manager of this FA Cup Fourth Round Replay Emery replied this during the post-match conference: “We were excited and motivated and we started well, we didn’t score but we were feeling good. When they were getting in our box we were not being strong and they were affecting us. They got into our box with some crosses and were clinical. I was more or less feeling the difference was the clinical way for them. We scored a little bit late and had no time to score the second goal. We have to accept and analyse the match. To beat them is not easy when you’re not being clinical.”
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Mauricio Pochettino on the fans:
“The fans were fantastic. With this connection, only good things can happen. We need to stop thinking we are the Chelsea from the last 20 years because we are not this Chelsea. We need to move on.”
[via @BobbyVincentFL]
— Absolute Chelsea (@AbsoluteChelsea) February 7, 2024
