Chelsea Cruise Through (Sky Sports)
Chelsea 4 Watford 0
Chelsea
cruised into the fourth round of The FA Cup with a commanding 4-0 win over
Watford in their third round replay at Stamford Bridge.
Adrian Mutu grabbed the first of his double to settle the nerves early on and goals from Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen sealed a comfortable win for Claudio Ranieri's men.
Watford started well and applied the pressure by forcing some early corners that were not dealt with too confidently by the home side.
However, the nerves were settled after just seven minutes when Adrian Mutu poked Chelsea in front from close range, although the goal looked like being disallowed for a moment.
The linesman had flagged for offside after the Romanian scored, but the fact that Watford's Neil Ardley had played the ball into the path of Mutu meant that referee Alan Wiley eventually signalled that the goal stood.
The Hornets so nearly got back into the game just after the half-hour when Jamie Hand bustled his way into the box before firing his shot beyond Carlo Cudicini, only for the ball to smack against the post and away to safety.
Watford were to rue that miss just minutes later when William Gallas' superb floated ball found Hasselbaink inside the box and the Dutchman controlled the ball instantly before firing past Pidgeley.
Chelsea cruised through most of the second half and Joe Cole nearly made it three when he blazed wide from a good position, with the only resistance from Watford coming in sporadic free kicks.
Watford were given a glimmer of hope by Cudicini who fluffed his clearance but they were unable to capitalise, and the tie was put to bed moments later.
Mutu grabbed his second goal on 76 minutes when he curled the ball superbly into the bottom corner giving Pidgeley no chance.
The reappearance of Damien Duff after injury was a major boost for the Stamford Bridge fans, and he helped put the gloss on the result by setting up substitute Eidur Gudjohsen who eclipsed Mutu's goal with an even better first-time curler that flew into the top corner to seal the game with six minutes left to play.
Teams
Chelsea Cudicini, Babayaro,
Gallas (Huth 82), Melchiot, Terry, Cole, Gronkjaer, Lampard, Makelele,
Hasselbaink (Gudjohnsen 70),
Mutu (Duff 80)
Subs Not Used Sullivan, Johnson
Goals Mutu 7, 76, Hasselbaink 34, Gudjohnsen 84
Watford Pidgeley,
Cox (Fitzgerald 58), Smith, Ardley, Devlin, Hand (Doyley 82), Hyde, Mahon, Cook,
Dyer (Webber 58), Gayle
Subs Not Used Chamberlain, Brown
Booked Hand
Attendance 38,763
Referee A. Wiley