Stuttering Chelsea machine springs to life to send Preston packing

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Even at 39-years-old, Thiago Silva cannot be sure of a rest on FA Cup third round weekend, especially when his young Chelsea team-mates are capable of dysfunction against Championship opposition.
The great Brazilian was called from the substitutes bench and scored against Preston North End, on an evening when he might have expected to be watching from home. Yet this was another game when Mauricio Pochettino and his £1 billion team of transfer fees spent again looked like a group of players in search of an identity – in the first half at least. Against a club from the mid-table of the division below, that kind of hesitancy could have proved extremely embarrassing.
By the end the score would look comfortable and Pochettino could even give a debut to the 17-year-old academy boy Michael Golding, although that could not erase the memory of a very awkward first half from Chelsea.
Silva came on to score the second goal shortly after Armand Broja had finally given the home team the lead in what had become a pensive Stamford Bridge. There had been a sense of disbelief at a first half performance without any theme at all against Preston North End’s spirited sense of themselves. Ryan Lowe’s team never really threatened Chelsea’s goal in that first half, but they did once again make Pochettino’s players doubt themselves.
Broja rises ⬆️Broja scores ✅A top header from the @ChelseaFC man#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/X0ZNFr9Yjj
The Chelsea manager had made some adjustments to the side that won away at Luton Town one week earlier, including a rest for Silva and Conor Gallagher both of whom would later come on. Pochettino changed Malo Gusto from right-back to left-back and yet for a long time it was hard to see what his side were trying to achieve.
Preston, 14th in the Championship, and one of five clubs currently in that division never to have played in the Premier League, are run on a fraction of the budget. They turnover around £14 million a year and lost about the same again in their most recent financial results. Chelsea, of course, have a £500 million turnover and have spent twice that on transfer fees under the Behdad Eghbali-Todd Boehly ownership.
The first half ended with a strong sense of dissatisfaction from the home fans. The game ended with a mild relief from those fans that the worst had not been realised, although the vulnerabilities are clear.
In the end, the occasion simply overwhelmed Preston. A dreadful first half from Chelsea – in which it was hard to find anything of note that might encourage Pochettino, not even someone out there in a blue shirt trying to take a risk that might encourage his team-mates to follow. Just a lot of players who did not seem to trust in whatever it was they had been entrusted with.
Lowe had selected five at the back but he encouraged his wing-backs to stay wide and that simple instruction caused uncertainty for Chelsea. It meant that Preston could settle on the ball, with no real pressure, and with that they found their way into the game. They have the former Manchester United academy boy Will Keane, twin brother of Everton’s Michael, who gave them a nice inventive touch in attack. There was plenty of hard work too – and that alone seemed to nudge Chelsea off their stride.
It is hard to see where the heart of this Chelsea team might be – even with a few changes with the FA Cup in mind. Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez were not in control of the midfield. Mykhailo Mudryk and Raheem Sterling were disconnected up front. One looked for the moment when the difference in quality might establish Chelsea’s control in the first half – and it never came.
At right-back Alfie Gilchrist made his first start for the club, a 20-year-old academy boy from Kingston-upon-Thames. That meant Gusto moved over to left-back where he never looked entirely happy. Another academy graduate, Levi Colwill, captained the side. The best chance of the half fell to Cole Palmer, when Fernandez clipped a ball through the Preston line and the Chelsea man sat down Freddie Woodman. The former England Under-21 goalkeeper did, nevertheless, do enough to ensure that the shot was wide.
The breakthrough finally came when Broja headed in from Gusto’s cross, struck right-footed from the left side. After that Preston lost their nerve. Silva headed in Palmer’s corner five minutes after coming on. Sterling’s free-kick eluded Woodman after Ben Whiteman had been forced to bring down Palmer outside the area. By the time the video assistant referee Peter Bankes had finally overruled the on-field decision to disallow Fernandez’s fourth it was all over.
PICK THAT OUT 😱@sterling7 with a stunner for @ChelseaFC 😮‍💨#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/vbwQTOYiJm
The question remains as to whether Chelsea will spend again this January. It is remarkable that they find themselves in search of something as basic as a goalscorer at this stage of their squad rebuilding. This goal was just Broja’s second of the season and one doubts whether Pochettino sees him as the long-term solution.
Nevertheless, it had been a hard road for Chelsea who played Middlesbrough in the League Cup semi-final first leg on Tuesday. The Chelsea manager now has a run of three victories in the league and cup which have earned his team some kind of respite. Even so it can be hard to see quite where this team might be headed.
A tight game until Chelsea scored and then the £1bn men blew Preston away. 
Sterling drives on a diagonal dribble from left to inside-right before rolling a pass to Madueke to the right of the spot. Madueke stuns the pass, knocks it to his left to work an opening, drops his shoulder but can’t find a gap so takes another slight touch and then shoots but the ball hits a defender and loops out to Washington whose attempt to hook it in is scrambled away. 
Chelsea have laid siege to the Preston box for most of the last 35 minutes and continue to do so, almost in swagger mode. Pochettino is beaming on the bench. 
And the 17-year-old Golding neraly scores with his first kick on debut after Madueke’s dazzling feet shuffled the ball in from the right before poking a shot that Woodman diverted to Golding who could not stab it past the keeper. 
Chelsea sub: Michael Golding ⇢ Enzo Fernandez.
Two more for North End: Preston bring on Duane Holmes ⇢ Ben Whiteman and Ryan Ledson⇢Ali McCann.
It took more than three minutes to sort out that VAR call, which means we now have eight more minutes. 
Chelsea 4 PNE 0 (Fernandez) He was onside when he trapped it with his left and rolled it in with his right after a one-two between Caicedo and Sterling put the No 7 down the inside right and he forced the ball through to the back post. 
Ridiculous. 
Enzo Fernandez hooks the ball in at the far post after a tenacious run from Sterlingforcd the ball to him via a block tackle. Was Lindsay playing him on? 
Danny Gabbidon anoints Raheem Sterling as his man of the match. 
Chelsea corner after Colwill pushes right up on Potts. They take it short and work triangles down the left, until Gusto tries to force a pass and Preston recover. 
Three goals in the space of 10 minutes for Chelsea, although in that time they have brought on the 39-year-old Thiago Silva in place of 20-year-old Alfie Gilchrist. Chelsea have finally got on the ball, and the Preston mistakes have followed. The first goal from Armando Broja, on 58 mins, came just in time. The home crowd were beginning to murmur their unhappiness with the performance,  
Gallagher and Gusto combine to roll the ball to Madueke 20 yards out but he cannot keep his left-foot shot down and it whistles over the bar. 
Washington improvises a header from a wild Madueke 25-yard piledriver that was veering out towards the corner flag but he couldn’t understandably, get it back on target. 
Two more changes for Chelsea:
Washington ⇢ Broja
Gallagher ⇢ Palmer. 
Best ⇢ Hughes before a PNE corner that bobbles around the box after a curious delivery. Disasi clears with an overhead that only goes back out to the right. Potts fires over a dangerous cross that evades everyone. Riis hits the deck and looks beseechingly at the referee but there was no foul and hence no pen.  
Chelsea are rampant now and Broja rounds the keeper when sent down the left of the box and, but for Hughes’ diligence to hare back to the line and scoop his shot away, he would have made it 4-0
Chelsea 3 PNE 0 (Sterling)  PNE are wobbling and running out of gas. The otherwise excellent Whiteman loses Palmer so legs him up 20 yards out. Sterling lines up the free-kick to the left of the D and diddles Woodman by seeming to aim for the top right but then closes his ankle to beat him at the other post. Brilliant execution. 
PICK THAT OUT 😱@sterling7 with a stunner for @ChelseaFC 😮‍💨#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/vbwQTOYiJm
Chelsea 2 PNE 0 (Thiago Silva)  Buries a header from a near-post dart but Preston gave him a free run at it to convert Palmer’s corner. Evans was supposed to be picking him up. That undoes all Whiteman’s good work to stop Sterling once more with the crispest of tackles. 
Thiago Silva heads in for @ChelseaFC 🔵#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/txYMZFp3c9
Double Preston change:
Riis ⇢ Osmajic
Evans ⇢ Keane.
An entirely new front two. 
Browne loses the ball and Chelsea shift it up to Sterling who goes on one of those gamboling runs in the box that only needs the merest touch to concede a penalty as he’s going at such pace. And yet PNE do not dive in and Wightman ultimately makes a fantastic tackle. 
Double Chelsea change: 
Thiago Silva ⇢ Gilchrist
Madueke ⇢ Mudryk. 
And it should have been two in two minutes for Broja on the end of another fantastic cross, this time from Mudryk, swinging it in from the left with his right. Broja leaps ahead of Woodman but turns his header from maybe eight yards over the bar.  
Chelsea 1 PNE 0 (Broja) Chelsea’s pressure pays off and their probing pays fruit. Caicedo drives into the box, goes down but the ball ricochets to Mudryk who turns away from goal and works it to Gusto on the left. The right-back, moonlighting on the left, cuts back on to his right foot and curls a fine cross towards goal and Broja, who has been quiet, glances the perfect header across Woodman and in at the right post. 
Broja rises ⬆️Broja scores ✅A top header from the @ChelseaFC man#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/X0ZNFr9Yjj
Osmajic uses his strength to hold off Colwill and win a free-kick moments after a hefty but fair tackle by Whiteman on Mudryk.  
Chelsea take the corner short from Palmer to Sterling who lays it off to Disasi but the centre-back spoons a poor shot high, wide and hideous. 
Chelsea probe patiently for a couple of minutes pulling the trigger only when Gilchrist crosses and they recover the ball and have another go until Mudryk’s shot is blocked. They win it back again and Sterling drives to the byline outmuscling Hughes but McCann is alert and slides in to send it behind for a corner.  
Terrible clearance from Caicedo, who slipped, sends the ball from the byline to Hughes 30 yards out. He takes a stride or two and then tees up Browne for a right-foot shot which he fades over the bar. 
Fernandez goes for a diagonal from the left on halfway towards the D and Palmer is there alone but, back to goal, he turns turtle and retracts his neck, missing the chance to glance it past the keeper. 
Broja starts the second half for Chelsea who attack up the right, stall and then horseshoe it around the back and up the left. You can tell Jonathan Pearce is enjoying the realtive obscurity of being on the red button. He’s unleashed. Now he’s on about Mark Lawrenson’s prowess in the bar. 
Chelsea have really struggled to make the difference felt – they’re playing against a Preston team 14th in the Championship, who look more comfortable on the ball. Cole Palmer has had the best chance of the half but even so, Preston have settled nicely. By way of comparison, Preston, one of only five current Championship clubs never to have been in the Premier League, have an annual turnover of around £14 million. Chelsea’s is £500 million, and they have spent around twice that on transfer fees under the new ownership.
 
Two good chances for Chelsea for Palmer and Fernandez but it’s been a pretty even game otherwise. Preston are battling hard and have given the home side problems down the flanks. Sterling has had a couple of decent runs and efforts but hasn’t clicked so far. Long balls and flick ons to Keane unsettle Chelsea and Preston should try to spray more.  
Gusto, not hoicking his shorts up this week, is wrong-footed by Potts so shoves him over. Wightman can’t get the free-kick into the box but when Sterling’s clearance is worked back to him, he finds the distance but not the precision, arcing it down Petrovic’s throat. 
Jonathan Pearce is at pains to tells us Pochettino is under no pressure. The ownership  has certainly got his ear. But he does call their transfer policy ‘risky’, paying £200 million for Mudryk and Caicedo who hadn’t played 200 games between them before joining Chelsea. 
Chelsea have had 64 per cent of the possession but have not done much with it and Millar’s tenacity forces Sterling too deep to keep his cross in. 
Unusually poor pass from Palmer when he was trying to tuck Sterling in behind on the right of the box. 
Preston are playing well, Whiteman is winning plenty of ball and Millar and Keane have both been dangerous with their passing. They earn a corner on the left that after a couple of flick-ons and a cross back in from Potts on the right, Keane tries to convert with a flying volley but doesn’t connect sweetly. 
Keane rolls his man and plays a fine pass in behind Gilchrist to send Millar in but the Chelsea right-back jockeys the wing-back when he enters the area, biding his time, and sticks out a leg to block the cross intended for Osmajic. 
Caicedo boots Osmajic across the shin, frustrated because Osmajic was not penalised for what Chelsea thought was a shove on Colwill. Yellow card. 
Another big chance for Chelsea. Palmer with a terrific pass to send Sterling in behind Hughes and Miller down the right, rather like he did for Madueke’s goal against Luton. Sterling takes it on and stands up a cross towards the centre of goal where Fernandez, who has slipped his pursuer, heads it straight at Woodman. That should have been 1-0. 
When Preston go direct they look threatening. Woodman chips it up the right, Potts flicks it on and Osmajic takes it into the box and fires a shot across goal that Petrovic deals with. 
Palmer keeps his nerve when Woodman charges at him to close him down and dinks a shot over the keeper but it drifts wide. ‘Almost too casual,’ is the verdict. Weeeeeeellll … Lovely pass from Fernandez to set it up and a fine, velvety touch from Palmer to control it before his dink.  
Inches away from Cole Palmer 😬#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/1FpPQrbUAN
Bone-shaking challenge from Fernandez at the edge of the North End box shifts the ball up to Sterling to the right of the penalty spot and he unleashes a rising shot that Woodman turns behind. 
Simple football almost opens up Chelsea – ball up to Osmajic who flicks it on and Keane volleys a low shot from 20 yards that Petrovic dives to his right to save. 
Good move between Sterling and Gilchrist who pounced on a Hughes error to combine down the right. Sterling’s pass released Gilchrist on the overlap and he cut the pass back just beyond the 18-yard line to Sterling who meets it first time with his left-foot shot that hits Lindsay and loops up for Woodman to catch. 
Whiteman plays a one-two with Potts and then sweeps in a right-foot cross towards the penalty spot but Disasi gets there ahead of Osmajic. 
Palmer drops deep to try to quarter-back it out of the pocket with a long pass over the inside-right channel looking for Sterling who is beaten to the header by Hughes. 
Fancy footwork from Sterling to drag the ball back and away from a red shirt who then fouls him. 
Millar takes on Gilchrist and sends over a deep cross that Gusto sees out for a throw-in under prerssure from Potts. Caicedo wins the tackle from the throw and is fouled. JP is giving us his Inside Chelsea takes. They back Pochettino and understand what he’s doing to build a cup from scratch. Wasn’t that what they said of Potter this time last yeaar? 
Potts need treatemnt on his left knee after trying to hack the ball back off Gusto with a straight leg. He seemed to twist it as the studs planted in the turf. He seems OK and will continue. 
Jonathan Pearce is giving us all his yesterdays from Capital Gold encounters with Freddie Woodman when he was just a little boy …
Storey launches a 30-yard ball from the edge of his area that is headed back by Colwill and Chelsea start probing again. 
Foul by McCann when Sterling dribbles into the area, catching him just outside but the referee doesn’t even give a free-kick. 
Murdyk tries a clever backheel to bypass Lindsay and Potts but proves too clever by half as he misdirects it. 
Keane treads on Fernandez’s heel in the centre-circle and concedes a free-kick that Chelsea work up the left through Mudryk and Gusto. 
Preston are lining up with Hughes tucking in on the left of a three and Millar as a left wing-back. Potts snaps on to a misplaced pass from Fernandez and strides forward 40 yards before trying to slide a pass up the inside-right for Osmajic to chase … in vain.  
Preston kick off and overload with five men on the right, knocking the ball back to Woodman who launches it and Colwill heads it clear. 
Chelsea in blue with their dinky white socks, Preston, unnecessarily, in red with navy flashes on their shirts. 
The Stamford Bridge DJ treats the home fans to the Clash’s London Calling as usual. Flip it and play Armagideon Time, too. 
Now it’s the light show. 
Chelsea’s team sheet has Gilchrist, a centre-half, starting at right-back with Gusto, a right-back, at left-back, and Disasi, who has played at right-back, and Colwill, who has filled in at left-back, at centre-half. Confused? You will be after this episode of Soap …
Chelsea (4-2-3-1)  Petrovic; Gilchrist, Disasi, Colwill, Gusto; Fernandez, Caicedo; Sterling, Palmer, Mudryk; Broja. Substitutes  Bettinelli, Bergstrom, Thiago Silva, Williams, Maatsen, Gallagher, Madueke, Godling, Washington.
Preston North End (4-4-2)  Woodman; Potts, Lindsay, Storey, Hughes; Browne, Whiteman, McCann, Millar; Osmajic, Keane.Substitutes  Cornell, Cunningham, Best, Ledson, Frokjaer, Woodburn, Holmes, Riis, Evans .
Referee Thomas Bramall (Manchester).  
The last two times Chelsea have played PNE in the FA Cup, they have gone on to make it to the final, losinng at the Millennium Stadium in 2002 and winning at Wembley in 2010. 
📋 TEAM NEWS: Your North End side taking on @ChelseaFC. 💪#pnefc pic.twitter.com/YL9a5LmwA4
Just in: today’s Chelsea team news. 👊@ParimatchUK | #CFC | #EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/EHt8bbtgZJ
Good afternoon and welcome to live coverage of the FA Cup third-round tie between Chelsea, eight-times winners, and Preston North End, five-times winners as the 10th-placed Premier League side take on a team in 14th in the Championship at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea were knocked out at this stage for the first time in 25 years last season when beaten by eventual quadruple winners Manchester City but have made it to the final in five of the past seven seasons. Preston, by contrast, haven’t been back to Wembley in this tournament since their defeat by West Ham 60 years ago and have not beaten a top-flight side in the Cup since hammering a near derelict Derby 4-1 in 2008. 
The two clubs are enjoying contrasting injury issues too. Chelsea are without Reece James, Ben Chilwell, Trevoh Chalobah, Romeo Lavia,Wesley Fofana, Robert Sanchez, Carney Chukwuemeka, Marc Cucurella nd Lesley Ugochukwu. There’s no Nicolas Jackson, either, as he has gone to the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal. Preston have doubts only about Robbie Brady and since he rarely starts they can select Ryan Lowe’s go-to players.
Mauricio Pochettino believes the FA Cup could be his side’s best route back into Europe.  “The Carabao Cup and the FA Cup are competitions we need to try to go far,” he said. “But we need to build our run step by step and the first step is [Saturday]. It’s a really important competition for us, because we are not in Europe.
“In the Premier League, we are in a position that we need to grow and improve a lot if we want to be in Europe next season. Through the FA Cup or Carabao Cup we can achieve that.”
He also hinted at a possible start for striker Armando Broja, with Christopher Nkunku fit only for the bench.