Chelsea puts five past Morecambe to seal progress
Chelsea cruised into the fourth round of the FA Cup with a comfortable 5-0 victory over Morecambe at Stamford Bridge, a return to winning ways for the Blues having gone winless in their past four outings.
Tosin Adarabioyo and Joao Felix both scored twice, with Christopher Nkunku also getting on the scoresheet to knock the EFL League Two side out of the competition.
Chelsea started brightly and was given a chance to take the lead from the spot after Yann Sango'o handled the ball in the 16th minute, but Nkunku saw his penalty saved by Harry Burgoyne, who then smothered the follow-up.
Tosin, who skimmed the woodwork with a header early on, found the breakthrough six minutes before half-time, with his long-range strike taking a huge deflection off Callum Jones on the way in.
Nkunku made amends for his penalty miss five minutes after the break, reacting quickest to Renato Veiga's parried shot to turn it home, but three goals in seven minutes sealed Morecambe's fate, starting with Tosin bending in a stunning long-range strike after 70 minutes.
Felix then rounded off an impressive performance with a quickfire double from the edge of the box, finishing off a fine counter-attack for his first, before bending in a second just two minutes later.
Morecambe almost gave the away fans something to cheer about late on as Harry Macadam beat Filip Jorgensen on a corner, but his glancing header was cleared off the line by Axel Disasi.
Tosin was delighted he got the chance to showcase his capabilities.
He scored the first brace of his career in English football, while he is the first centre-back to score twice in a match for the Blues since Antonio Rudiger against Leicester City in the Premier League in February 2020.
"It's the first time in my professional career I was on a hat-trick. I wanted to have another shot, but the moment never came," Tosin said.
"I got into a nice position [for his second goal] and I was in a position I look to shoot in. I managed to wrap my foot around it and put it top bins.
"I heard [the crowd shouting for him to shoot] a couple of times when I got the ball on the halfway line. I wanted to but I was too far out.
"Playing games and being able to showcase your abilities is always great, so it was nice to do that one today."
Chelsea has won its past 11 FA Cup home matches against sides from a lower division by an aggregate score of 37-5, winning its past four at home in the competition against fourth-division teams by two or more goals, and Blues boss Enzo Maresca was more than pleased to see his side turn a corner in terms of recent form.
"Very professional and very serious. I am very happy for the performance and for the final result," he said.
"Today all the teams are well-organised and can prepare the game in the way they want. When we scored, the game changed and second half, we were better."
Romeo Lavia and Reece James also made their returns from injury, with both playing the first half before being taken off at half-time. Maresca confirmed their substitutions were planned to avoid aggravating any issues.
"They are both okay after 45 minutes and we are happy with that,” he added.
"It is good that players can get minutes, and they can be ready in any games when we need them.
"We are already thinking about Tuesday's game [against Bournemouth] and tomorrow we will prepare for Tuesday [Wednesday AEDT]."
Chelsea has now progressed from 36 of its 37 FA Cup ties against sides from a lower division, including each of the past 21 since a 4-2 home defeat to Bradford City in January 2015.
Morecambe, meanwhile, has now lost all four of its matches against Premier League opposition by an aggregate score of 15-1.
