Diego Costa, Willian, Gary Cahill, Eden Hazard and Bertrand Traore scored as Chelsea beat an inexperienced Manchester City side 5-1 in the FA Cup fifth round at Stamford Bridge.
With the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Dynamo Kiev to come in Ukraine on Wednesday, Manuel Pellegrini argued he had no choice but to play an inexperienced team in west London, with five players making their full debuts.
Willy Cabellero, Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Demichelis, Aleksandar Kolarov and Fernando were the only senior members of City’s line-up, but the visitors actually started well, with David Faupala forcing Thibaut Courtois into early action after a good run.
Chelsea gradually began to take control and eventually took the lead in the 36th minute through Costa’s header, but it was a lead which was almost immediately wiped out when Cesar Azpilicueta’s attempted clearance went in off Faupala following a cutback from Kelechi Iheanacho.
Willian finished off a flowing counter-attack to put Chelsea back ahead three minutes into the second half, and from that moment it was only ever a matter of how many goals Guus Hiddink’s side would score.
Cahill made it 3-1 with a thumping finish in the 53rd minute, Hazard curled in a free-kick to make it four in the 66th minute and then, after Oscar had seen a penalty saved, his fellow substitute Traore completed the scoring in the 89th minute with a flicked header.
Hiddink has now lost just one of 13 games in all competitions since succeeding Jose Mourinho as Chelsea boss in December. He boasts a 100% record from his six FA Cup games having led the Blues to the 2009 FA Cup during his first spell as caretaker boss.
City have now lost three in a row – prior defeats to Leicester and Tottenham dented their Premier League title bid – ahead of a vital week.
