Chelsea crush Villa in one-sided replay
Chelsea stormed into the FA Cup fifth round, emphatically easing the pressure on Mauricio Pochettino.
The Blues scored twice in the opening 21 minutes at Villa Park, with goals from Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson putting them in control.
And their victory was sealed by Enzo Fernandez’ brilliant free-kick nine minutes into the second half.
Moussa Diaby scored a stoppage-time consolation for Aston Villa – a low left-footed shot from near the edge of the penalty area which went in off the post.
Chelsea will face Leeds at home for a place in the quarter finals.
With his team 11th in the Premier League and having been woeful in a 4-2 defeat at home to Wolves at the weekend, the spotlight was on boss Pochettino ahead of this tricky-looking fourth-round replay.
But they were dominant from the start and remain in contention for a cup double, with the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool in store later this month.
There was no way back for Villa after the visitors netted twice in the space of 10 first-half minutes.
After Gallagher helped Chelsea steal possession in midfield, Jackson pulled the ball back from the left towards Noni Madueke, who teed up Gallagher to side-foot into the corner of the net.
Madueke was also involved in the build-up to the second goal, playing the ball to the right to Malo Gusto, whose cross was headed home by Jackson.
Chelsea: Petrovic, Gusto, Disasi, Badiashile (Gilchrist 87), Chilwell, Gallagher, Caicedo, Fernandez, Madueke (Sterling 74), Jackson (Nkunku 87), Palmer (Silva 81).
Subs not used: Bergstrom, Bettinelli, Samuels-Smith, Chuwuemeka, Mudryk.
