Chelsea breeze through, Spurs shown exit door
Tottenham exited their second competition in four days after a 2-0 defeat at Crystal Palace in the fourth round of the FA Cup while defending champions Chelsea were boosted by two video reviews in beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-0.
Palace took a ninth-minute lead when Jeff Schlupp’s shot was saved by Paulo Gazzaniga but the Spurs goalkeeper could only push the ball into the path of Connor Wickham and he scored off his thigh.
The hosts extended their advantage after Kyle WalkerPeters handled in the penalty area with Wickham lurking.
Former Tottenham winger Andros Townsend slammed the resulting spot kick straight down the middle in the 34th.
Spurs got a penalty of their own 10 minutes later when Patrick Van Aanholt brought down Juan Foyth but Kieran Trippier fired well wide to ensure the Eagles took a 2-0 lead into the break, and then survived a second half dominated by Tottenham.
Chelsea beat Tottenham in a penalty shootout last Friday in the English League Cup semifinals after a 2-1 victory for the Blues at Stamford Bridge left the two sides level 2-2 on aggregate.
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino tried to look on the bright side after the loss to Palace.
‘‘Of course, disappointed because, after Thursday [Friday NZ time] and today again, out of two competitions. You feel disappointed. You can’t feel anything different,’’ he said.
‘‘But now we have to be positive. We are still in two competitions, in a good position in the Premier League and the Champions League is a massive motivation for the whole club.
‘‘We have to be strong.’’ The force – of the video assistant referee (VAR) – was with Chelsea against second-tier strugglers Sheffield Wednesday.
The hosts conceded a first-half penalty, which the VAR subsequently overturned, and quickly were awarded a penalty of their own, which VAR confirmed.
Callum Hudson-Odoi scored on what could be his final Chelsea appearance and Willian netted twice, the first from the penalty spot.
On-loan striker Gonzalo Higuain made his first appearance for Chelsea and played 82 minutes after he joined mid-week from Juventus.
Hudson-Odoi started despite reportedly submitting a transfer request to force through a move to Bayern Munich before Thursday’s transfer deadline.