Out of the Champions League, and nowhere in the Barclays Premier League, Chelsea’s last chance to win any silverware this season died on Saturday as they were beaten at Everton 2-0 in the FA Cup
Romelu Lukaku scored twice in quick succession as Everton secured a semi-final berth at the expense of the Blues at Goodison Park.
The Merseyside club will be making a fourth Wembley appearance in five years – whereas Chelsea suffered back-to-back exit from a cup competition – following their Champions League ouster on Wednesday.
Here are four lessons we can’t just ignore as the Blues crashed out of the oldest club competition in England.
Lukaku’s brilliance
Romelu Lukaku once again showed his class by scoring two beautiful goals against his former club, Chelsea. The Belgian broke the deadlock with a contender for the goal of the season, when he weaved his way past four Blues opponents before finding the target in the 78th minute.
Four minutes later, Lukaku slammed the second from a Ross Barkley pass which breached Chelsea’s offside trap. Both strikes against the Blues took his season’s tally to 25 – 10 more than Diego Costa.
Costa’s show of shame
While Lukaku was doing all the scoring, his opposite number, Diego Costa, was busy causing all the troubles. Costa, who was beginning to find his feet with nine goals in 12 under interim boss, Guus Hiddink, returned to his old dirty tricks at Goodison.
The Spanish striker was involved in two controversial moments in the game. First, the former Atletico Madrid man appeared to have spit at referee Michael Oliver before he was sent off in the second half for biting Everton’s Gareth Barry.
Premier League consolation all that remains for Chelsea
Hiddink said in his Friday press conference that Chelsea could not afford to take their eyes off the Premier League table – but now that is all they have left.
The Dutchman’s team selection implies that the Blues were very much hopeful of a Wembley appearance to end a largely frustrating season at Stamford Bridge. But now that they have fallen short, Chelsea have no choice but to try and haul themselves as high up the Premier League as possible, despite being entrenched firmly in mid-table.
Blues miss ‘the old’ Hazard
Hiddink made the decision to drop Eden Hazard his poor performance during defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in midweek.
The player’s father has also come out and criticised Chelsea for overworking the winger who has been heavily linked with a move to Spain in summer.
In this cup tie, both sides lacked cutting edge in the final third, but the hosts produced it twice in the final 15 minutes to steal the cup win.
If Chelsea had Hazard available– the Premier League Player of the Year version – you feel that Hiddink’s men would have breezed through to the semi-finals.
