On the evening of February 5, Beijing time, in a match in the fourth round of the English FA Cup, Chelsea sat at home to face League One side Plymouth. In 90 minutes of regular time, the Blues drew 1-1 from behind. In extra time, relying on Alonso's goal, Chelsea had a thrilling 2-1 promotion to the next round.
After the short winter break, Chelsea received bad news that manager Tuchel could not lead the team to this game due to the new crown infection. After playing this round of the FA Cup, Chelsea will travel to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, for the Club World Cup.
Plymouth, from League One, is only 7th in the league. In the past three rounds of the FA Cup, Plymouth successfully passed, but the opponents they faced were not strong. In the last round of the FA Cup, Plymouth defeated Birmingham from the Championship, which was a successful counterattack.
Although only facing their Champions League opponents, Chelsea still sent most of the main players in this game, with Lukaku in the middle of the front. On the bench, German twins Havertz and Werner failed to start, but Tuchel chose to give Lukaku more time.
After the opening of the game, Chelsea continued to threaten the opponent's door, but unfortunately did not receive too good results. In the 7th minute of the game, the Blues suffered a blow to the head. A free-kick opportunity, Plymouth player Gillespi successfully scored, and the team from League One upset Chelsea away from home.
Trailing at home, Chelsea launched a series of counter-attacks. Unfortunately, before the end of the half, the Blues' luck was really bad, and they had three chances to hit the goal frame. Just when the Blues fans were worried that the home team would return to the dressing room with a trailing score, the captain stepped forward in time and Azpilicueta inserted a flower foot to help Chelsea equalize.
The 1-1 score at half was a losing 45 minutes for all Chelsea. And the fans of the visiting team Plymouth gave their team enough applause. Back in the 58th minute of the second half, Azpilicueta used his heels again to break the goal, but this time the referee decided that the goal was offside and cancelled the score.
Before the end of the 90th minute, Chelsea replaced Havertz and Werner in succession, but failed to score. After the regular time battle, the two sides drew 1-1, and could only enter the extra time to decide the winner.
In extra time, Chelsea finally got out of the slump. In the 105th minute, Havertz assisted Alonso's goal, and then Kepa regained his bravery to save the point, and finally Chelsea relied on two substitutes to reverse the score 2-1. After 120 minutes, the Blues had the thrill to advance to the next round of the FA Cup, avoiding the tragedy of Manchester United in the early morning, and they were able to play in the next Club World Cup game with a happy mood.
Although Chelsea successfully qualified, it was another game for Lukaku, who played 120 minutes and was worth more than 100 million. In the whole game, his performance is very sluggish, scoring 0 goals in 5 consecutive games, and he is currently unable to do even the work of abusing vegetables.