Chelsea responded to a troubling week with a superb 3-1 win at Aston Villa to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup and put a smile back on the face of Mauricio Pochettino on Wednesday.
Successive heavy losses in the English Premier League had left manager Pochettino under intense scrutiny ahead of the fourth-round replay, but first-half goals by Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson put Chelsea in control before Enzo Fernandez delivered a sublime free-kick after half-time.
Villa, who are on the fringe of the league title race and 15 points above Chelsea, were outplayed pretty much from start to finish as their Cup hopes evaporated and Moussa Diaby’s late effort was a mere consolation.
Eight-time FA Cup winners Chelsea will host Leeds United in round five in a throwback to the 1970 final.
Pochettino’s pre-match news conference on Tuesday had seen the Argentine field questions about whether or not he still had the backing of the club’s owners with his side in 11th place in the league.
Bizarrely the former Tottenham Hotspur and Paris St Germain manager also came under fire from the wife of his experienced defender Thiago Silva who took to social media calling for change after a 4-2 home drubbing by Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Veteran Silva was left on the bench at Villa Park but Pochettino’s young guns finally delivered the kind of sustained display that has been lacking this season.
“I think so,” Pochettino said when asked whether it was the best performance since he took charge last summer. “I’m so happy with the performance. It’s about being solid and consistent and that’s the most difficult for a young team to find the balance. Today (Wednesday) I was so pleased, the team was ready to compete, ready to fight with energy and attitude.”
Chelsea’s league campaign has been terrible by the club’s standards but they have reached the League Cup final against Liverpool later this month and will now be confident of a quarter-final berth in the FA Cup.
Villa were stopped in their tracks in the 11th minute as Jackson pulled the ball back for Chukwunonso Madueke who teed up Gallagher to sidefoot a clinical finish into the roof of the net.
Chelsea doubled their lead in the 21st minute as Malo Gusto’s cross was headed past Emiliano Martinez. Fernandez then showed his class with a curling free-kick that had his World Cup-winning Argentina teammate Martinez clawing at thin air.
Copa del Rey: Athletic end Atletico run
Madrid: Athletic Bilbao ended Atletico Madrid's 28-match unbeaten streak at home with a 1-0 win in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals.
Alex Berenguer converted a first-half penalty kick to give Athletic the tight victory at the Metropolitano Stadium on Wednesday.
Atletico hadn't lost at the Metropolitano since a 1-0 defeat against Barcelona in January last year in the Spanish league. Diego Simeone's team had only two draws since then, both against Getafe in La Liga.
"It's always tough to win in this stadium, they are always pressing forward and putting you on the defensive," Athletic coach Ernesto Valverde said.
"It was a typical Copa match and we prevailed."
Atletico thought they had a chance for a late equaliser when the referee called a penalty kick on Alvaro Morata in stoppage time, but video review determined that the Atletico striker was offside and reversed the call.
The hosts had almost evened the match in the 85th when Ángel Correa's shot was blocked by Athletic defender Inigo Lekue at the goal line.
Berenguer scored the winner by converting a 25th-minute penalty after a hard sliding tackle by Atletico defender Reinildo on Athletic midfielder Beñat Prados.
AP/PTI
