Chelsea ease pressure on Lampard
Man City survive scare, Leicester beat second-tier club
LONDON, Jan 24, (AP): Tammy Abraham scored a hat trick as Chelsea beat Luton 3-1 and Leicester had to come from behind against another second-tier club before ousting Brentford by the same score to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup on Sunday.
Abraham netted twice in a sevenminute span in the first half. Jordan Clark profited from the struggling Kepa Arrizabalaga’s latest goalkeeping error to reduce the deficit to 2-1 on the half-hour before Abraham struck again in the 74th minute, taking his season tally to 11.
Timo Werner missed a late penalty in a frustrating end to his afternoon. Chelsea will play another lower-league club, Barnsley, in the round of 16.
This victory was crucial for underpressure manager Frank Lampard after five losses in the past eight Premier League games.
Brentford, which beat four Premier League teams on its way to this season’s League Cup semifinals, threatened another shock when it took the lead through Mads Bech Sorensen’s sixth-minute goal against Leicester.
But Leicester turned it around within six minutes at the start of the second half. James Maddison weaved through the Brentford defense to the edge of the area before teeing up Cengiz Under, who powerfully fired in the equalizer.
Youri Tielemans was tripped in the area by Tariqe Fosu and the Belgium midfielder netted from the penalty spot. Maddison killed it off in the 71st minute when he tapped in the rebound after Harvey Barnes’ shot was saved.
Jay Rodriguez struck twice for Burnley in a 3-0 win at Fulham - the 31-year-old striker’s first goals since July.
With just under 10 minutes left on the clock, Rodriguez turned provider for Kevin Long for the third.
Manchester City survived a scare to beat fourth-tier Cheltenham 3-1.
Cheltenham came close to one of the biggest shocks in the 150-year history of the FA Cup before Pep Guardiola’s City team scored three late goals.
A long throw-in from Cheltenham captain Ben Tozer caused a mix-up in the City defense and Alfie May seized on a deflection to stab the ball into the net.
In the 81st minute City finally pulled level as Phil Foden met Joao Cancelo’s cross at the far post and knocked the ball
into the net. Gabriel Jesus scored City’s second three minutes later to avoid extra time, though his goal may have been deemed offside if the video review system - not used in cup games at non-Premier League stadiums - had been in operation.
Ferran Torres added a third in stoppage time to ensure City move on to play Swansea in the fifth round.
“We learned to suffer and at the end the quality made the difference. We won the game and we are happy to win this game in this type of competition,” Guardiola said. “We knew how tough it would be and the response from the players was magnificent.”
City had been brilliantly denied an
opener after 12 minutes. Tommy Doyle’s cross was half cleared to Benjamin Mendy and the defender’s angled rocket was cleverly – and bravely – cleared off the line for a corner by Tozer.
Guardiola tried to use the game to give his young players experience, but ended up bringing Cancelo, Ruben Dias and Ilkay Gundogan off the bench.
“The players they brought on from the bench probably tells you something, and the way they celebrated the goals probably tells you something as well,” Cheltenham manager Michael Duff said. “I think they’ll know they’ve been in a game.”