Liam Rosenior turned to Chelsea’s second string for his first game in charge as his new team thrashed Charlton 5-1 at the Valley to ease into the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Goals from Jorrel Hato, Tosin Adarabioyo and Marc Guiu – three players of whom little had been seen in the final months of former boss Enzo Maresca’s reign – completed a straightforward enough assignment before Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez from the penalty spot added the gloss late on.
Miles Leaburn’s strike to make it briefly 2-1 had been enough to keep alive the home side’s interest in the tie almost until the end.
Rosenior got an early taste of the current mood amongst Blues supporters. They sung the name of former owner Roman Abramovich in south London, whilst there was a less complimentary refrain for co-owner and Rosenior’s new boss Behdad Eghbali.
He and his BlueCo colleagues are ultimately whom the new head coach will need to impress, but a strong start might also go some of the way towards mending fences between fans and the ownership. It will take more than a cup victory away to Championship opposition, but it was a positive start for the 41-year-old.
Rico Lewis celebrates after scoring Man City’s 10th goal
Antoine Semenyo made a goalscoring debut as Manchester City hit double figures in a 10-1 thrashing of Exeter in the FA Cup third round.
Rodri also struck his first goal for 20 months and Rico Lewis netted twice as Pep Guardiola’s side demolished the League One outfit at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Youngster Max Alleyne began the rout with his first senior strike and there were two own goals before before Tijjani Reijnders, Nico O’Reilly and 17-year-old Ryan McAidoo got on the scoresheet.
Exeter’s one bright moment was a superb late consolation strike from George Birch.
It was their biggest win since beating Huddersfield by the same scoreline in 1987. City also beat Burton by nine goals in a 9-0 victory in 2019.
Semenyo’s former club Bournemouth suffered penalty shoot-out heartbreak after a 3-3 thriller at Newcastle.
Harvey Barnes fired the hosts ahead five minutes into the second half, but goals from Alex Scott and David Brooks looked set to send Bournemouth through in normal time.
However, Anthony Gordon’s stoppage-time penalty forced an extra 30 minutes and Barnes put Newcastle back into the lead before Marcus Tavernier equalised at the death to send the tie into a marathon shoot-out.
Aaron Ramsdale saved the 18th spot-kick from Bafode Diakite as Newcastle progressed to round four 7-6 on penalties.
Jorgen Strand Larsen netted a hat-trick as Wolves eased to a 6-1 thrashing over League Two Shrewsbury to book their spot in the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup.
Things have not come easy for bottom side Wolves in a troubling Premier League season but they enjoyed a rare comfortable afternoon at Molineux to continue their recent upturn in form and proved to be a different class above a side who are battling for their own safety, three leagues below.
Strand Larsen ended a run of 12 games without a goal with the opener which was quickly followed up by Jhon Arias, who made it two with his second goal for the club.
Joergen Strand Larsen flicks home the first of his three goals for Wolves
Wolves strolled through the opening 25 minutes but the fourth-tier visitors managed to cut the deficit in half through John Marquis’ spot-kick, but a sloppy pass from Elyh Harrison gifted Strand Larsen one of the easiest goals in his career.
The Norway international – who has been linked with a move away from Molineux in the January transfer window – bagged his first hat-trick for the club in the second period before Rodrigo Gomes and Tolu Arokodare rounded off the scoring to help extend Wolves’ recent unbeaten run to four matches.
Everton endured a penalty shoot-out horror show as they were knocked out by visitors Sunderland at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Sunderland took the lead in the first half through Enzo Le Fee and looked set for victory until the hosts were awarded a penalty late on with James Garner scoring in the 89th minute to force extra-time.
That extra half hour produced no goals, ensuring a shoot-out.
It was done in just six spot kicks though with Garner, Thierno Barry and Beto being denied by Robin Roefs with Le Fee, Granit Xhaka and Luke O’Nien all converting for the Black Cats.
Two moments of real quality from Stephy Mavididi ensured Leicester avoided an FA Cup upset with a 2-0 third-round win at Cheltenham.
Mavididi set up the opener for Patson Daka with some neat footwork in the 23rd minute and he then added the second just before half-time after another piece of skill that the League Two side could not live with.
Fulham were trailing to Hayden Hackney’s goal for Championship Middlesbrough but second-half strikes from Harry Wilson, Emile Smith Rowe and Kevin wrapped up a 3-1 victory.
National League Boreham Wood’s adventure was ended by Burton, with strikes from Kyran Lofthouse, Fabio Tavares, Dylan Williams and JJ McKiernan adding to a Charlie O’Connell own goal in a thumping 5-0 victory for the League One side.
Sprightly 36-year-old Ashley Barnes scored twice as Burnley eased past Millwall 5-1, while goals from Keane Lewis-Potter and Mathias Jensen – from the penalty spot – saw Brentford through 2-0 at Sheffield Wednesday.
Lamine Cisse’s late goal gave Stoke a 1-0 win over Championship leaders Coventry, while Southampton held off a second-half fightback to win 3-2 at League One strugglers Doncaster and goals from Jaden Philogene and Jacob Greaves gave Ipswich a 2-1 win at home to Blackpool.
Emil Riis netted a hat-trick as Bristol City secured a place in the fourth round with a thumping 5-1 victory over Championship rivals Watford at Ashton Gate.
Riis netted an early opener, created the second for Anis Mehmeti and then bagged two more in nine second-half minutes as the rampant Robins scored five goals for the second successive home game.
Birmingham fought off a late Cambridge fightback to win 3-2.
Despite there being 40 places between the sides, Sky Bet League Two Cambridge might have fancied their chances beforehand after suffering only one home defeat this season.
But the game was effectively over before half-time thanks to Kai Wagner’s deflected effort, his first goal since signing from Philadelphia Union, and Kyogo Furuhashi’s clinical finish.
The third goal came 11 minutes from the end as and Tommy Doyle fed Marvin Ducksch, who rolled the ball into the far corner.
Cambridge responded immediately through Sullay Kaikai, who also found the far corner with a precise finish.
Kaikai scored a second a minute from time with an excellent thumping strike, but the Blues saw out stoppage time to progress to round four.
Weston-Super-Mare’s club-record run in the FA Cup came to an end as they were beaten 3-2 by Grimsby at Blundell Park.
The visitors responded on two separate occasions to Grimsby’s goals, but the Mariners’ quality prevailed as they defeated a non-league opponent at home for the third successive round.