Chelsea brush aside League One Port Vale to book place in FA Cup semi-finals

Chelsea ended another difficult week in their turbulent season on a high by reaching the FA Cup semi-finals with a 7-0 win over Port Vale that eased the pressure on Liam Rosenior.

The head coach sent out a near full-strength XI against the League One strugglers with the notable exception of Enzo Fernandez, suspended internally over his flirtations with Real Madrid but present at Stamford Bridge to see his team book their place at Wembley.

After back to back Premier League defeats and a Champions League humbling by Paris St Germain, this was further humiliation avoided and with room to spare.

Jorrel Hato, Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer scored in the first half, Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos and Estevao added three more in the second before Alejandro Garnacho converted a stoppage-time penalty, ensuring a path to silverware remained open amidst all the lingering doubts about the club’s present direction.

Marc Cucurella, who like Fernandez had irked his manager by publicly challenging the Blues’ transfer policy, was left on the bench.

Rosenior said before kick-off he would not sanction the defender for airing his discontent in the media and, unlike Fernandez, he will likely return when Manchester City visit west London in a week. That could yet prove a warm-up for a cup semi-final meeting later in April.

For Jon Brady’s Valiants though, all that remains in a bitter-sweet season is for near-certain relegation to League Two to be rubber-stamped.