Chelsea eventually eased to a 5-0 FA Cup win at home to League Two Morecambe on Saturday.
It was a win that deserved not three cheers, but two, maybe one, as the Premier League giants made heavy weather of their lowly visitors before a three-goal burst in seven second-half minutes turned the tide.
In a performance that secured Chelsea's progress to the FA Cup fourth round, not many of the club's B team made a strong case for promotion to Premier League XI.
How the game played out
Chelsea started Saturday's game with the confidence of a team ranked 87th in the league over their opponents. The fourth-tier Warriors dug into their own half for most of the opening 15 minutes before bending late under mounting pressure.
Morecambe captain Yann Songo'o took the unorthodox blocking approach Joao Felix's cross instinctively raising both arms, locking them in a straight position, as if preparing to dive into an invisible pool. Christopher Nkunku, however, failed to punish the captain's failure.
The French forward curled a low effort into the arms of Harry Burgoyne, seeing the Shrimps keeper keep level.
Those inside Stamford Bridge ended the first half with their necks up, their gaze constantly fixed on the Morecambe half of the pitch. But Derek Adams' side fought back valiantly, pulling a red shirt ahead of the ball as Chelsea hit a flurry of shots. Unfortunately for the lively visitors, Callum Jones had no intention of thwarting Tosin Adarabioyo's speculative effort, inadvertently deflecting the centre-back's pot shot past his own keeper in the 40th minute.
Nkunku made up for his misfire within five minutes of the restart. Jones underlined the quality of Chelsea's opposition with a touch inside his own box that was so heavy it might as well have been a pass to Renato Veiga. The Portuguese midfielder was denied by Burgoyne before Nkunku cleared the ball.
After more than an hour stuck on the ropes, Morecambe was eventually crushed to the canvas during the final 20 minutes. Tosin added his second of the game – Chelsea's third – with an even sweeter strike from distance that didn't require the misdirection of a deflection to fool Burgoyne.
Joao Felix quickly found his range, bending in a pair of finishes less than two minutes apart to make it 5-0.
Morecambe had the chance to give their vociferous traveling support something to shout about, apart from their hated owners. In a rare strike in the 88th minute, the aptly named Hallam Hope was responsible for the visitors' last chance but easily rolled the ball into the welcoming gloves of Filip Jorgensen.
Check out the player ratings from Chelsea vs Morecambe here.
That, as much as he doesn't want to be, is Christopher Nkunku's level these days. ex Bundesliga top goalscorer and £52million signing has been the reluctant talisman of Chelsea's B team. Of the 13 starts he has made this season, only three have been in the Premier League.
Nkunku has made the most of these outings in the cup; his quiet finish on Saturday was his 11th goal in the Europa Conference League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup. However, the Frenchman couldn't even smile.
Maybe the penalty miss in the first half was still on his mind, or maybe he was making more of a point. Rumors have grown this month claiming that Nkunku is desperate for one leave Stamford Bridge to earn some minutes against clubs sat a little higher in the professional pyramid than the 91st. Barcelona has been described as a possible destination, but Maresca insists that he wants his unhappy attacker to stay.
It remains to be seen whether Nkunku can get another six months among the researchers.
No VAR in the FA Cup third round means this penalty was not taken back 😶#BBFCACup #BBCFutboll pic.twitter.com/4lhv4H6JM7
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) January 11, 2025
As Chelsea discovered on Saturday after Morecambe's Harry Burgoyne came off his line to save Nkunku's penalty, there was none VAR in use during FA Cup third round. The controversial video system has many flaws, but would surely have spotted the keeper's illegal wander, allowing Nkunku to recover his saved shot.
That was little more than a serious wrinkle at the end of Chelsea's comfortable win, but teams won't always be so lucky.
The world's oldest cup competition has always struggled to decipher how best to implement technological advances. The FA Cup was a decade old before permanent goalposts were introduced, let alone pitch monitors. The logic behind the seemingly arbitrary decision to introduce VAR from the fifth round onwards is hard to find.
Football fans can't agree on much, but the vague concept of “consistency” seems to be a value prized above all others. In that case, how can there be any uniform standard of refereeing in a competition where the rules are changed from game to game?
On a day when Tyrique George showed some promising footwork – particularly after the introduction of a full-back under the wing to take some of the focus off the defense – and Joao Felix scored a brace, Marc Guiu emphatically failed to make his mark.
The former Barcelona striker, whose hard-hitting approach earned him six goals in his previous five appearances, finished the game with 11 touches. Even that small figure – the fewest of any outfield player to last the full 90 minutes – seemed too high for the impact he made.
Hidden in a mass of Morecambe red shirts tucked into a block so low that at times it turned into the Shed End, Guiu spent large parts of Saturday's contest completely cut off from the rest of his team-mates.
At a time when Nicolas Jackson's dip in form could offer a route into the first team, Guiu has done little to suggest he deserves a starting place in England's top flight.