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Chelsea Dismantle Tractor Boys (Sky Sports)
Chelsea 7 Ipswich Town 0
Chelsea
took out their frustrations on a managerless Ipswich side in the FA Cup
scoring seven goals.
The Stamford Bridge crowd, starved of goals in recent weeks, were treated to
a seven-goal demolition reminiscent of Chelsea's
early season dominance.
Carlo Ancelotti
made changes to his side ahead of the third round clash, bringing in
youngsters Patrick Van Aanholt, Josh McEachran and Daniel Sturridge into the
side.
It took until 33 minutes for the Blues to break the deadlock courtesy of a
Salomon Kalou
strike.
From that moment on the goals came thick and fast as Chelsea put Ipswich and
Ian McParland to the sword.
Taking charge for the first time following the departure of manager Roy
Keane,
McParland had the unenviable task of setting up a side to face a determined
Chelsea side.
Two goals each from Sturridge and Frank Lampard,
a Carlos Edwards own-goal and a Nicolas Anelka strike brought an end to a
torrid run of results for Ancelotti's men.
Chelsea were handed a tricky fourth round tie away at Everton midway through
the game and never looked like losing their grip on the game.
Slow start
Despite the number of changes and standard of opposition, Chelsea - looking
to become the first club to win a hat-trick of FA Cups since the 1880s -
continued to be dogged by a lack of cutting edge in the opening half-hour.
Sturridge, rewarded with a start after scoring five times for the reserves
on Thursday, saw one chance closed down by Marton Fulop and another balloon
off target.
They were almost made to pay by the team who had boss Roy Keane sacked on
Friday.
A fine break involving Scotland and David Norris ended in the former
unleashing a left-footed piledriver which Petr Cech
could only beat away.
Chelsea surged down the other end and Anelka looked to have put them ahead
but Troy Brown produced a brilliant clearance off the line from the
Frenchman's low finish.
Lampard blasted over after good work down the left from Van Aanholt and
McEachran's drive was deflected behind off Connor Wickham.
A lovely Chelsea move was then spoilt by a horrible finish from Anelka, who
made amends by providing the breakthrough in the 33rd minute after Ipswich
gave the ball away in midfield.
Chelsea sprung forward and Anelka's finish hit Fulop and squirmed towards
the line before Kalou made sure.
It was 2-0 less than a minute later, Sturridge tucking home Jose Bosingwa's
low cross after more poor defending from the visitors.
Lampard's weak 20-yard shot was straight at Fulop as Chelsea looked to kill
off the tie before half-time.
Ipswich captain David Norris was booked for a poor tackle on John Terry
and Lampard made him pay from the resulting 41st-minute free-kick, with
Carlos Edwards flicking the ball into his own net.
Anelka's mis-hit finish was straight at Fulop at the start of the second
half but the striker finally ended his barren spell in the 49th minute,
finding the bottom corner after a neat exchange with Kalou.
Ipswich had been preparing a substitution at the time and immediately
withdrew Scotland for Ronan Murray.
Goals galore
Chelsea began to play with a swagger and Sturridge made it 5-0 three minutes
later, curling superbly into the top corner from just inside the box.
Ancelotti threw on another youngster, with Gael Kakuta replacing Kalou.
Peters drilled wide in search of a consolation before the highly-rated
Wickham was replaced by Tamas Priskin.
Chelsea lost Van Aanholt to injury for the final 20 minutes, with Jeffrey
Bruma entering the fray.
The home side were in cruise control but Ipswich pressed the self-destruct
button again twice in a minute to hand Lampard a quickfire double.
The England midfielder blasted home from 15 yards after the visitors failed
to clear a corner, and then bundled home Branislav Ivanovic's low cross.
It was party time at Stamford Bridge and Ramires fired over with the outside
of his right foot before Chelsea fans showed their support for the
under-pressure Ancelotti, who responded with a wave.
Kakuta, Anelka and Ivanovic all had chances to make it 8-0 in stoppage-time
before the final whistle ended Ipswich's torture.
Chelsea
Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry,
Van Aanholt (Bruma 70), Ramires, McEachran, Lampard, Kalou (Kakuta 55),
Anelka,
Sturridge
Subs Not Used
Hilario, Essien, Drogba, Malouda, Ferreira
Booked
Goals
Kalou 33, Sturridge 33, 52, Edwards (og) 41, Anelka 49, Lampard
78
Ipswich Town
Fulop,
Brown, McAuley, O’Dea, Kennedy, Peters, Norris, Healy, Edwards, Scotland
(Murray 49), Wickham (Priskin 63)
Subs Not Used
Lee-Barrett, Delaney, Smith, Eastman, Civelli
Booked
Norris
Goals
Attendance
41,654
Referee
A.
D’Urso