Here is David Hytner’s report from Stamford Bridge:
Some Chelsea reaction from the official organ.
Asked about the future of Callum Hudson-Odoi, Gianfranco Zola says we want him to stay, he has a contract and we are playing him in games. He says not many players at 18 are featuring as regularly as him. #CHESWE
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 27, 2019
Zola says it was very pleasing to see Ruben Lofus-Cheek return from injury and he felt the midfielder performed well when he came on. #CHESWE
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 27, 2019
Asked about the performance of Gonzalo Higuain, Zola says he made a couple of great movements into space and he will only get better. #CHESWE
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 27, 2019
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While the match report is being readied, have some transfer news. That 14-second delay didn’t work out for anyone, did it?
Fuller quotes from Hudson-Odoi from that flash interview and on Bayern Munich.
I don’t know. I can’t say, but you know I will just keep working hard and you never know what happens. Chat with Bayern Munich? “I can’t say, I haven’t, I haven’t…(inaudible).
Tracy Caton’s earlier email has set off some reactions.
First, Eduoard:
“May I second Tracy Caton ? I’m a perfectly calm and reasonable person who can discuss politics without showing much emotion. but VAR seriously triggers me. It will kill the passion and “magic moments” in the sport, which is what it boasted above all over other sports. It’s sad to think that moments like Manchester United winning in 1999 in the last minutes would probably be utterly ruined by VAR now. All that for decisions that are still controversial and showing that applying the rulebook draconianly isn’t all that. Finally, perhaps I’m biased as I’m Swiss, but I can’t help but remark that the the evil trifecta of VAR, inviting more nations to international tournaments, and European clubs pressuring for a super league all started after the demise of Sepp Blatter. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
Second, James Russell.
“Let’s leave out the swearing and concentrate on the logic She hasn’t watched it so doesn’t have a first-hand opinion on the decisions but criticises the system anyway.”
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Hudson-Odoi and Willian did a quick bit of post-match chat.
HO: “I am delighted, we did very well.”
W: “We deserved to go through. My second was a great combination with Olivier Giroud, and a great goal.”
HO: “We worked really hard in training. We pulled it back from the Arsenal game.”
W: “We have to continue in the same way, we can’t go up and down.”
HO (on his goal): “It think it’s definitely one of highlights. Andreas picked me out well. I learned it [the finish] from him [Willian].”
HO (on his future): “I don’t, I can’t say. We will have to see what happened. I can’t say.”
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Hudson-Odoi has just thrown his shirt into the crowd, where a grateful young fan is the recipient. Will that be the last time?
Full-time
And that’s the last of it. Chelsea just too good for Wednesday, whose players look exhausted with all the effort they put in.
90+2 min: Willian really wants that hat-trick. He cuts in from the left, and hits a singeing shot wide of the opposite post. He has been outstanding.
90 min: Merciful release for Wednesday in just two minutes being added on.
89 min: Jorginho has been brought on to pass Sheff Wed to death. Hudson-Odoi clearly fancied another but is tackled as he attempts some showboating.
87 min: Willian got a knock, and is limping a little, but clearly fancies a hat-trick. Chelsea are pushing on for more, and Giroud fancies a goal. Jorginho’s chip is superb, and then Giroud tries an aerial volley. It doesn’t go in, and all is smiles, but therein a reason he has scored just one Premier League goal and Chelsea have turned to Higuaín.
85 min: Off comes Ross Barkley, who has been quiet, for Jorginho, who won’t get to link with Higuaín tonight.
Goal! Chelsea 3-0 Sheffield Wednesday (Willian, 84)
Willian starts the move himself, Giroud holds the ball up and his flick finds the Brazilian, whose finish is unerring.
82 min: And that’s the end for Higuaín, as Giroud comes on. Giroud, who was last January’s answer to Chelsea’s striker problem.
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81 min: Bannan’s long ball is nowhere near Forestieri. Chelsea then pile on the pressure. Higuaín makes one last attempt to get into the penalty box but the ball never arrives from Hudson-Odoi.
79 min: Willian tries to link up with Higuaín but the link-up play was not on the right wavelength. Similar is attempted with Kovacic, and with Olivier Giroud stripped and ready on the sidelines, the chances of a debut goal have ebbed into nothingness.
77 min: Willian shows off his work-rate by chasing down some Sheffield Wednesday shadows when the game is surely won.
75 min: The game has petered out somewhat. It looks as if Higuaín will be playing the full 90 minutes. Will he get his goal?
For Sheff Wed, off go George Boyd and Fletcher and on come Lucas Joao and Atdhe Nuhiu
73 min: The Wednesday fans are filling the night sky with noise, as they often do. Usually a big away support. Theirs is, of course, a big club fallen on hard times.
71 min: Tracy Caton emails in: “Not watching the game so no idea if the “decisions” were “right” or “wrong”. But I know that the Wednesday fans have it right: VAR is COMPLETE ******* **** Pochettino can see it - I ask myself why the media as a whole is complicit in the introduction of this needless unfair (potentially) extremely corrupt system which is going to seriously damage football.”
70 min: Wednesday pushing on a bit now, but far too late, of course. Like England in the West Indies, as watched by Steve Bruce, they left themselves with far too much to do.
69 min: Wednesday sub: Fernando Forestieri is on for Pelupessy.
67 min: By the way, that assist for Hudson-Odoi came from a fine pass by Christensen. Such bright, youthful prospects at Chelsea, but how long they linger and how much chance they get is the question.
66 min: The Agnew plan is in tatters, and Chelsea have made a sub. Ampadu comes off, and Loftus-Cheek gets a much-needed run-out.
Goal! Chelsea 2-0 Sheffield Wednesday (Hudson-Odoi, 65)
What a goal, and how much does the price-tag go up? Lovely pass to find him, a cut inside and a shot that Westwood might have done better with.
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63 min: Chance for Higuaín, as an Ampadu cross meets his ample forehead. He can’t, though, get enough power and direction on the ball.
61 min: Chelsea content to play the ball around midfield. A change is going to come soon. If it’s Hudson-Odoi, then he seems likely to be eating frühstück rather than breakfast in the near future.
60 min: Chelsea not exactly going for the throat. This game is now meandering. Adam Reach forces Wednesday’s first corner. Bannan’s corner, though, is as foul as his language has been.
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57 min: Steven Fletcher robs Kovacic, but is baulked on the edge of the Chelsea box. Chelsea break but meet the same fate on the edge of the Wednesday box. Barry Bannan is still complaining to the referee.
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55 min: Chelsea look the more likelier team by far. Wednesday’s efforts concentrated on officialdom. Adam Reach is telling his nearest linesman that Alonso has been diving.
53 min: Chance for Chelsea! Lots of chances. Willian gets to the byline and both Kovacic and Higuaín cannot get close to the ball. Hudson-Odoi can only run the loose ball down a blind alley.
52 min: Barry Bannan, voice of the fans, is having a real go at the referee. It was him who led the delegation during that flurry of penalty claims and counterclaims.
51 min: Kovacic, Higuaín and Hudson-Odoi misread each other’s intentions, then Caballero makes a handling error at the other end. Wednesday make nothing of the territory that gains them.
49 min: Wednesday have begun this half as passively as they did the first. The replay back at Hillsborough appears the plan and that will arrive via a late equaliser.
47 min: Barkley is fouled by Pelupessy, and then has a nip back. The Chelsea player is lucky the free-kick stayed Chelsea’s. Marcos Alonso, charges up the flank, and fires in a cross that is missed by everyone, reason being that it was an absolute rocket.
46 min: Higuaín, in gloves, gets the game back underway, after sharing a joke with ref Andre Marriner. Look away now, suspicious Owls fans.
The players are back out and off we go.
Spurs will not be the next round, after this happened, as seen by Dom Fifield.
Joe Ludlam emails in: “Evening, biased opinion from a Wednesday fan here. The VAR decisions were both correct, but an uncontested drop-ball for the Chelsea keeper didn’t feel like a fair outcome for Wednesday as VAR clearly showed a corner should have been awarded. If VAR is to be accepted, that needs looking at. The fact Chelsea scored almost straight from it doesn’t help.”
Half-time
VAR has been the star, with Wednesday’s ‘penalty’ ruled out and Chelsea’s given the kite mark of safety. Boos for the referee and Willian from the away fans. Wednesday, aside from that penalty, have not been able to make much of an impression on a pedestrian Chelsea. Higuaín may not be at 100 percent sharpness.
45+2 min: Chelsea happy to keep the ball moving. Then Hudson-Odoi and Azplicueta force a corner. Wednesday defenders get the ball clear.
45 min: Two minutes added on to the half, which seems skinny, considering all the VAR-related delays.
44 min: Referee Marriner made himself even more unpopular with the Owls when he waves on an advantage when Wednesday wanted a free-kick they launch players forward for. He will be booed from the field, no doubt about it.
43 min: Higuaín does look, it has to be said, a little tired. He has done plenty of chasing, to be fair to him.
42 min: A reversed pass from Kovacic is aimed at Higuaín, who just fails to get there. A semblance of understanding being struck up there? And just wait until the striker is reunited with Jorginho.
41 min: Chelsea passing it around the back, with no semblance of a high press by Sheffield Wednesday attackers. That idea of keeping it tight until half-time is being acted on.
39 min: Higuaín runs down the channel to the right of the Wednesday goal but nobody else is there to back him up. Chelsea have not exactly been dynamic in attack.
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38 min: Hutchinson - in a revenge attack? - flails into a tackle on Kovacic. He is lucky to escape a yellow card. Morgan Fox is not so lucky, as he is carded for his second hack at Hudson-Odoi.
36 mins: Loud cheers as Sheff Wed win a foul as Kovacic knocks Hutchinson over. Irony rains down.
34 mins: “VAR is ****ing ****,” according to the Wednesday fans. If you can’t beat a giant, best to have been done over by The Man and the Deep State.
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33 min: Hudson-Odoi, down the right, is fouled by Fox. The boos ring out from the Owls contingent as Willian takes it; is that because he scored the penalty?
32 min: Sheffield Wednesday have a chance to break but Pelupessy and Reach are on different wavelengths and the ball was allowed to run off the touchline. A shame, really.
30 min: Now, what precisely do the Owls do now? The sensible plan would be to keep it tight, and last until half-time. A replay shows that Higuaín wanted to take the penalty but Willian regretted to inform him that he was the penalty taker around here.
28 min: Boos from the South Yorkshire contingent as Willian takes a corner. Neither Rudiger or Christensen could make anything of that.
26 min: The Wednesday players are angry and plead injustice, but both questions were correct. The game might have been better if their penalty had been allowed to stand, but that’s as far as it goes. VAR saps such romance.
Goal! Chelsea 1-0 Sheff Wed (Willian, 26)
A stutter step, and Westwood is sent the wrong way as Willian converts.
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Penalty to Chelsea!
Azpilicueta turns in the box and is fouled by Hutchinson. VAR is called for, but there can be no doubt. That was a cleaning out of the Chelsea captain.
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No penalty! VAR decides.
The decision is overturned. Ampadu got to the ball first and a drop-ball is given. Steve Agnew looks aghast. And Ampadu, who was beside himself, can breathe again.
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Penalty?
Pelupessy burst into the box and Ampadu came across him. Penalty given! VAR is called for by the crowd and Andre Marriner waits to hear news from the videodrome.
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20 min: Sheff Wed could do with pushing on a bit here, as the ball is coming straight back at them. They have defended well enough, but can’t last this out, surely.
19 min: Close! Hudson-Odoi, who has been quiet, gets involved, then Kovacic bi-sects the defence with a great pass. Higuain’s touch is a tad laboured as he spins and Lees is able to block the ball.
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17 min: Higuaín concedes his first foul in English football, after leaving his elbow Hutchinson. No card; it was accidental.
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16 min: Amapadu, in Hutchinsonian style, wallops a shot from distance. It ends up in the Shed End.
14 min: Sheffield Wednesday singing of Steve Bruce’s Barmy Army? Is that in reference to his trip to the West Indies?
12 min: Sam Hutchison, against his old club, saw glory after the ball came to him after a move that was begun by Fletcher. He wanted it too much and his shot ended up somewhere in Brompton Cemetery.
11 min: Westwood comes to the edge of his area to claim a headed back-pass. He was far quicker to that than Higuaín.
10 min: Higuaín receive his first foul in English football as Lees clatters him. The resultant free-kick is caught by Westwood and with some comfort.
9 min: Steven Fletcher, the Scottish Higuaín, has taken a bang to the head. He should be OK to continue, though.
8 min: Christensen, with one Premier League start to his name, and almost certainly not the new JT, steps forward. A sighting of Higuaín, but Thorniley comes across twice to intercept the ball. The first touch eventually comes, with a tidy enough lay-off to Kovacic.
6 min: Wednesday get the ball clear after Chelsea win their first corner. Higuaín is yet to see a sight of the ball. Perhaps he would struggle in the Championship. Wednesday are sat very deep.
4 min: Ampadu looks likely to be enjoying plenty of possession. The teenager has played more for Wales than Chelsea until this fixture.
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3 min: The ball is shepherded back to Kieren Westwood, back in the team now that Jos Luhukay has left. The Irishmen is one of the best keepers in the EFL.
1 min: Some good voice from the Sheff Wed contingent as Adam Reach, after some good pressing, gets a shot on goal. The ball took a slight deflection, such that Caballero had little problem in the Chelsea goal.
And away we go. The referee has sounded his whistle.
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Steve Agnew speaks.
The lads have been in good spirits. I spoke to Steve [Bruce] and he was very excited. We will enjoy it and attack it with some determination. Steve trusts us, [Agnew and Stephen Clemence] to observe the players and pick the team and try and stay in the tie. You never know.
Gianfranco Zola, who is handling media duties, has been talking about Gonzalo Higuaín.
You can see his ability and his desire to do well, we are looking forward to seeing that from him today. We want to see how he can integrate, we are expecting him to fit the system well.
On (Hudson-Odoi’s move to Bayern): I believe there is something, he has been training well. He deserves to play, and let’s see how it goes. For us he is an important player. He is playing and has been on the bench. Let’s see if we can come together with something.
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Fancy some red-hot transfer gossip?
The fifth round draw will be made tomorrow night, ahead of Barnet’s game with Brentford, where this chap will almost certainly be present, barring an apocalypse.
After booking their place at Wembley in the Carabao the other night, this FA looks an open run for Chelsea, if they can beat the Owls. No Arsenal, Liverpool and, it seems, no Spurs. Which leaves just the Manchester giants. And should two of those clubs pull each other, then it’s a free-ish ride to the final.
Over in South London, a shock is in store.
Sheffield Wednesday have made two changes. Young defender Jordan Thorniley comes into the defence, with Michael Hector ineligible to face the parent club he has never played a game before in three and a half years of their ownership of him. Marco Matias has been dropped in favour of Joey Pelupessy bolstering the midfield.
Aside from Higuaín, that is an underpowered Chelsea XI, with eight changes from Thursday night’s League Cup semi with Spurs. Ruben Loftus-Cheek only on the bench, though, as he is recovering from injury. A trio of Ampadu, Barkley and Kovacic will man the midfield.
Louise Taylor got the lowdown on life at Hillsborough from caretaker boss Steve Agnew. Steve Bruce was in the West Indies, for reasons Agnew explains.
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Will Higuaín be a success at Chelsea? There is no guarantee, you know.
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In analogue fashion, here’s the teams once more:
Chelsea: Caballero, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Christensen, Alonso, Ampadu, Barkley, Kovacic, Willian, Hudson-Odoi, Higuain
Sheffield Wednesday: Westwood, Palmer, Lees, Thorniley, Fox, Hutchinson, Bannan, Pelupessy, Reach, Boyd, Fletcher
That’s Callum Hudson-Odoi starting despite that transfer request, and Higuain starting too. Be interesting to compare him to Steven Fletcher today....
The teams
The Chels
📝 @G_Higuain starts for the Blues!
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 27, 2019
In full, here's how we line up this evening... #CHESWE pic.twitter.com/MJRvHKdwRh
The Owls
📋 And here's how the Owls line-up at Stamford Bridge for this evening's @EmiratesFACup fourth round clash, in association with @Ladbrokes #swfcLIVE pic.twitter.com/fBYIxFgDkv
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) January 27, 2019
Preamble
There was a time, not so long ago, that Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday were running mates, and there used to be quite something of a rivalry between the two clubs. They didn’t used to like each other very much at all.
The pair came up from the old Second Division at the end of the 1983-4 season, and by the start of the Premier League era, Sheff Wed were looking down at Chelsea, among the poorer relations of the whole new ball game of the time. Later, while Chelsea had Gianfranco Zola and Gianluca Vialli, Wednesday had Benito Carbone and Paolo di Canio. But the start of the century is where the paths diverged. The Owls were relegated at the end of the 1999-2000 season, never to return since, and Chelsea were soon enough the richest club around.
When Antonio Conte was binned, in could come Mauricio Sarri, the brightest coach in Serie A. When Wednesday fired Jos Luhukay, they turned to Steve Bruce, though Brucie hasn’t actually turned up yet, as he has been watching England getting thumped in the West Indies. He is due to start work on February 1, just as the transfer window closes. Good thing too, as his new club don’t have a brass tanner to spend. Steve Agnew continues as caretaker; last time he was at Stamford Bridge was on the occasion of Middlesbrough’s relegation at the end of the 2016-17 season.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have Gonzalo Higuain on loan and this week reached the League Cup final. Time and football are such cruel mistresses.
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