Chelsea showed FA Cup the much needed respect by picking their strongest possible squad tonight, and it paid them well as Guus Hiddink’s men walked away with a much deserved victory.
Goals from Diego Costa, Willian, Gary Cahill, Eden Hazard and Bertrand Traore sealed an emphatic result for the Blues.
As for Manchester City, their misery continued as it was Manuel Pellegrini’s third defeat in a row after losing to Leicester and Tottenham in Premier League.
The biggest question on the night was Pellegrini’s team selection. He decided to go with a complete young squad against Chelsea’s seasoned campaigners. City looked like a mismatch from the very first kick to the last.
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Diego Costa’s opening goal was no more than Chelsea had deserved up until the half-hour mark. City did show some promise when only two minute after conceding the goal, they were on the level terms. A David Faupala’s strike gave City fans some hope going in to the half-time mark.
However, second half was a completely different story. Chelsea piled on the goals and scored 3 goals in space of 20 minutes to kick City out of the tie completely. To be fair, Man City were lucky to have only conceded 5 goals tonight.
Their defense was all over the place, and at no point, they looked assured against Chelsea’s counter attacks. If not for Oscar’s missed penalty, Pedro’s shot hitting the cross bar and Hazard’s misplaced passes, the scoreline could have turned in to a real disaster for Man City.
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In the end, Chelsea closed the game with ease and continued Guus Hiddink’s 100% record in the FA Cup. This was Hiddink’s 6th win in FA Cup as Chelsea manager. The Dutchman had led The Blues to an FA Cup triumph back in 2009 and perhaps that is why he values the competition more than anything else.
In a more realistic way, Hiddink has perhaps realized that FA Cup is the only possible way of finishing his season with a trophy. Chelsea are virtually out of the Champion League running after losing 2-1 vs PSG.
That is why, Hiddink opted to play his strongest team tonight and got the results. Next up, Chelsea face Everton in the quarter finals of this season’s FA Cup tie.
Image credit: getty
