Seconds out but ruthless Chelsea put Brentford on canvas in four
ROMANCE of the FA Cup? You would have found more in a tired bouquet of petrol station carnations than in the old stadium on Fulham Road yesterday.
This was a battering, a heavy victory for the leaders of the Premier League against the little club with big ideas from the Championship.
An upset never looked remotely likely, even when the team sheets came in and showed Antonio Conte had made nine changes to the side most recently used in the league.
Ordinarily that gives an underdog some hope; here, Brentford were neutered by half-time.
The Chelsea second string bludgeoned their near neighbours with amazing force, with Willian scoring a wonderful free-kick after 14 minutes and Pedro adding his fifth goal in his past six starts a short while later. Together, they were near unplayable, £50million worth of attacking talent ransacking a club with an annual turnover of one-fifth that size.
Substitute Branislav Ivanovic made it 3-0 in the second half and then won the late penalty scored by Michy Batshuayi, with the two contributions adding a degree of sentiment to the tie given it might well have been Ivanovic’s last appearance in a Chelsea shirt. After nine years spent winning almost every major trophy at Chelsea, he is expected to leave this week, quite possibly for Zenit St Petersburg.
It remains to be seen how his season plays out, while it looks increasingly likely that Chelsea could contend to win a league and cup double. After 17 wins in the past 19 games in all competitions, they show no sign of relenting.
Conte said: ‘I am very happy with this. This season we haven’t got Champions League or Europa League and the FA Cup is a good opportunity to see the young players. I think I’m satisfied in what I saw here.
‘Now it’s important to go game by game in the FA Cup and in the league. For sure it won’t be easy.’
On the potential departure of stalwart Ivanovic, who has fallen out of favour this season, Conte said: ‘I know that when a player is used to playing every game and then you are not playing regularly, it’s not easy to accept this decision.
‘Ivan knows well the situation and I’m pleased if he remains here, if he stays with us. But in this situation, for sure, the player must make the best decision for him, for his family.’
For Brentford manager Dean Smith it was a tough experience, made only marginally better by a more competitive second
half. He had made the call to put West Ham target Scott Hogan on the bench in anticipation of his likely exit for north of £13m this month, but even if he had started his star striker this result would not have changed.
That points to the depth of Conte’s reserves, which in this instance included England Under-21 star Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who failed to take three decent chances but impressed nonetheless.
Having only just turned 21, this is looking like a make-or-break period for a talented player with only four starts this season. The only question now is whether he will get enough chances from Chelsea’s fringes to sufficiently develop what is clearly a significant talent.
On this evidence, he should, which amounts to another tick on a day of many for Chelsea.