Terry red but Blues on course
NORMAL service has resumed for Antonio Conte’s Chelsea. Not, though, for their captain John Terry. Chelsea routinely dispatched Peterborough to help heal the wounds of last Wednesday’s Premier League defeat at Tottenham. But the pain of a frustrating season continues for Terry, who was shown a straight red card on his first start for the club since October.
The Chelsea skipper pleaded with referee Kevin Friend after his foul on Lee Angol. ‘I didn’t touch him’, he told the official. Terry will also argue that he wasn’t the last man, as Branislav Ivanovic was trying to cover but replays showed his team-mate was some distance away.
With his chances in the Premier League at a minimum thanks to Conte’s now settled back three of Gary Cahill, David Luiz and Cesar Azpilicueta, Terry (below) will find some solace in the fact that his side eased into the fourth round.
Conte also insisted he will appeal the red, believing it was ‘very clear’ his skipper should not have been dismissed. ‘John did not take the opponent and also behind him was Ivanovic,’ he stressed.
The Italian was non-committal on Terry’s future but values his off-field contribution, saying: ‘He’s showing me great commitment when I ask him to play and when he doesn’t play, because he is helping me a lot in the changing room.’
Among Chelsea’s goalscorers was Michy Batshuayi, the £33million summer signing also making his first start since the League Cup defeat at West Ham.
Conte said of the Belgian: ‘He showed great work-rate and he scored. It’s important for forwards to score for the confidence.
‘He is a young player who is working a lot. He showed he is improving. He can give us another solution.’
Peterborough boss Grant McCann said: ‘The difference in the game was that they were clinical, we weren’t. It was a good learning curve for our boys. I don’t think we came here and disgraced ourselves.
‘We could have come here and defended deeper and tried to frustrate them but I thought we might as well come here and give it a go. I thought we did that.’
Peterborough were far from embarrassed but Chelsea were ruthless on the counter-attack.
On another day, Michael Smith might have got away with his misplaced pass in the 18th minute. But yesterday Pedro finished expertly past Luke McGee, who had done well to stop Nathaniel Chalobah’s initial effort.
Had Angol’s point-blank effort from Marcus Maddison’s cross dropped a yard either side of keeper Asmir Begovic, Peterborough would have taken an eighth-minute lead. And had Maddison shown greater composure from the edge of the area after Gwion Edwards beat Ivanovic down the left, Posh could have been in dreamland. Instead, Chelsea killed the tie before half-time.
McGee was having a great day, with saves from Terry, Batshuayi, Cahill and Willian keeping Peterborough in the mix.
But Batshuayi earned the hosts a two-goal lead just before the break, thumping home Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s pass after another rapid Chelsea break.
Willian then scored in the 52nd minute as he beat McGee after Cesc Fabregas and Pedro had combined to set the Brazilian up.
It would have been four only two minutes later if McGee had not got a hand to Chalobah’s shot.
The away side were given a glimmer of hope in the 67th minute as Terry was handed his marching orders for a foul on Angol as he tried to cover for Kurt Zouma’s failed attempt to cut out Chris Forrester’s pass. Three minutes later, Tom Nichols did pull one back, tapping home from close range. Pedro hit his second five minutes later, stroking home from the edge of the
area. Former Celtic kid Islam Feruz is back at Chelsea after Mouscron became the fifth club to terminate his loan deal. The 21-yearold made just one start for the Belgian top-flight outfit and failed to score in seven appearances. He also had failed spells at Russian side Krylia Sovetov, OFI Crete in Greece, Blackpool and Hibs.