Chelsea saved by 11-minute flurry in a cup they should really care more about
Chelsea 4-0 Preston North End (Broja 58′, Silva 66′, Sterling 69′, Fernandez 85′)
STAMFORD BRIDGE — Don’t let this scoreline fool you. If Chelsea cared about winning this third-round tie – or this competition as a whole for that matter – then it wasn’t immediately obvious on Saturday evening.
Tenth in the Premier League table, as close in points with 19th as they are with league leaders Liverpool, you would have thought Chelsea valued the FA Cup, a tournament they have won six times since 2000, a tournament that could yet salvage their season.
And while yes, they won, beating one of the Championship’s most out-of-form sides, and while yes, there is a Carabao Cup semi-final to come that could/should then take them to Wembley in February, the performance against Preston left a lot to be desired.
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino made a point by making just four changes from their last Premier League game. A sign of intent. But what followed was an under-par performance – which in this Chelsea season is saying something – in front of an expectant crowd saved only by an 11-minute barrage and a late, fortuitous fourth.
The FA Cup can serve up Premier League versus lower-tier doozies, even when the stronger side is playing at home – Bradford beat Chelsea here 4-2 nine years ago, for example – but this was no classic.
At times it bordered on arrogance, in truth, and in the first half this was perhaps typified by Cole Palmer, who all too casually lifted the ball wide after Enzo Fernandez’s ball over the top. Had it gone in, sure, it would have been “Cold” Palmer at his best, but it went down as a wasted opportunity.
All the while, the Preston fans so clearly enjoying their day in the capital saved this tie from being a one-out-of-tenner.
The early highlight came ahead of the game when the lights went out and the travelling fans sarcastically cheered. It was in fact to signal the start of a lights show also featuring pyrotechnics, to which the Preston support – some 6,000 of them occupying the entire Shed End – asked, “What the f___ing hell is that?.”
They never shut up. In the good kind of way, and they took particular delight when Fernandez made any mistake, from his simple header straight at goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, to a sliced clearance down the other end.
Fernandez cost Chelsea £106.8m, more than 53 times the amount of Preston’s club-record signing, Milutin Osmajic, who joined for around £2m in the summer of 2023. Hence the Preston wolf-whistles, and they cared little when he scored late on. They had not travelled down expecting to win.
First up was Armando Broja’s fine header from Malo Gusto’s cross finding the far corner, but having taken 58 minutes to do so, Preston fans once again did not mince their words. “How s___ must you be? It’s only one-nil.”
It wasn’t one for long, however. Headers continued to be Chelsea’s best outlet, Broja hitting the bar with one before substitute Thiago Silva nodded in their second goal of the evening.
A swift third followed when Raheem Sterling’s free-kick got the better of Woodman, and in a flash – well, 11 minutes to be precise – Chelsea showed that perhaps they do care after all.
It’s a funny old game.
