That’s your lot! Richard Jolly was on point at the KCom, and here’s his verdict. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
And now a word with Frank. “The good news is, we’re in the hat. The bad news is, that’s the small story of our big season. I don’t think Hull played that well in the first half, and I’m not disrespecting them because they showed in the second half that they can be really dangerous. But when a team aren’t playing so well, and we had the game in our grasp ... don’t try at Cruyff, don’t try something else, don’t chip a pass, when we do that we’re not a good team. It allows teams to stay in the game to the 94th minute and we caused our own problems. We have to keep working on that, because it’s going to define you. I sound like a broken record. We’re not making it count in terms of goals and firm results. It’s frustrating. In the last ten minutes we were allowing them to run two on two on our goal. Until we get those details right, we can’t close the gap. This has to be a constant message from me. The lessons are clear.”
Grant McCann speaks. “I thought the two goals we conceded were sloppy, and we got punished. The second one is inexcusable, it’s really disappointing to lose a man at the back post. But we got back into it and had chances. We just didn’t seem to get on the second ball. But I thought the boys gave it a good go in the second half. It was a chance for us today, we just didn’t take the best of our opportunities. The league is our number one, but we gave it a good go. It’s a big game for us on Tuesday [against Huddersfield] and we’ll try to respond.”
Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta speaks candidly to BT Sport. “Honestly, with the chances we had, we have to control better. We have to improve our game if we want to go far. Tonight’s game we could have handled better. It is not the first game that we did not manage well, and at the end we were suffering. We stopped playing and started doing individual actions; if we want to fight for trophies we have to improve.”
Chelsea ran rings around Hull in the first half, Batshuayi’s early goal scant reward for their dominance. That profligacy nearly came back to haunt them, Hull giving everything in the second half, though it should be noted that their goal came from a free kick that almost certainly shouldn’t have been awarded, and was pretty darn lucky to boot. Which is not to take away from the Championship’s impressive display in the second period ... just to say that Chelsea would have had a word or two to say had Hull gone on to equalise.
FULL TIME: Hull City 1-2 Chelsea
Chelsea clear easily, and that’s that! Hull were much improved in the second half ... but the Premier League side are in the bag for the fifth round, reward for their dominant first-half display.
90 min +3: Hull win a corner on the right. One last throw of the dice!
90 min +2: Pedro takes his own sweet time to depart, as Lamptey takes his place. Chelsea are so close to the fifth round now.
90 min +1: In the first of three added minutes, Chelsea deal easily with the free kick that’s hoicked into the mixer.
90 min: Magennis is bowled over, 40 yards from the Chelsea goal, but Zouma. It’s a clear free kick, but Zouma, perhaps still seething over the non-challenge that led to the goal, goes ballistic. He’s booked for his dramatic roar of disapproval.
88 min: Samuelsen bursts down the right, a power run that earns a corner off Kovacic. Grosicki takes long. Tafazolli, at the far post, heads back across goal. Burke can’t quite latch onto it, and in a flash the chance is gone. But all of a sudden, Chelsea are hanging on a bit here.
86 min: A simple long ball, and Grosicki is racing down the left into acres of space. He reaches the edge of the Chelsea area and blooters wildly over the bar. Chelsea hearts in mouths there.
85 min: The corner comes to nothing, though Magennis is fortunate that VAR isn’t in operation tonight, because he was grappling with Zouma in a very hands-on style. The referee saw zilch.
84 min: Alonso rolls a pass down the left for Willian, who reaches the byline then returns it. Alonso, to the left of goal, looks for the top right. He pearls it, but the ball takes a deflection off Burke. Corner.
83 min: Gilmour has a rake from 25 yards. It’s on target, heading towards the bottom right, but an easy claim for Long.
82 min: Grosicki curls one in from the left. Magennis prepares to head home, but Tomori pops up to win a brilliant clearing header.
80 min: I should say that Hull’s goal has been initially credited to Grosicki, but his shot looked like it was heading wide right before Kovacic met it. Kovacis was the recipient of a huge bollocking from Alonso, incidentally, the punishment of breaking away from the wall.
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GOAL! Hull City 1-2 Chelsea (Kovacic 78 og)
Grosicki belts the ball towards the top right. It looks like it’s going wide. Kovacic breaks off the end of the wall. The ball pings off him, a huge deflection that takes it off towards the top left. Cabellero is wrong footed, and it spins in! Hull are back in it!
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77 min: Magennis goes over Alonso’s leg, just to the right of the Chelsea D. Not much contact, if any, but the referee gives the free kick. There might be a kerfuffle if this goes in.
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75 min: Lichaj floats a pass down the middle and nearly finds Kane in the Chelsea box. His pass is a couple of inches too high. Goal kick.
74 min: Barkley dinks a pass down the right to release Pedro into the box. Pedro draws Long and softly chips the keeper ... but the ball flaps into the side netting. That would have been a very pretty goal.
73 min: Barkley steams down the right and earns a corner off Da Silva. The set piece drops at the feet of Tomori, ten yards out. He should score, but belts the ball straight at Burke. He gets another go, but that effort’s blocked too. Hull suddenly look very tired.
72 min: Batshuayi cuts in from the right and looks for the bottom left. He sends his effort well wide of the target.
71 min: Grosicki has a belt from distance. Nope.
70 min: Pedro tries to release Batshuayi with a backheel down the right. Cute, but not quite. But then he comes at Hull again, dribbling into the box down the inside-left, before tugging a shot across the face of goal and wide right.
69 min: Hull respond with a double change of their own. Eaves and Honeyman make way for Magennis and Samuelsen.
68 min: A double change for Chelsea. Mount and Hudson-Odoi are replaced by Willian and 18-year-old Scottish prospect Billy Gilmour, the latter making his FA Cup debut.
66 min: Kane quarterbacks a pass down the left for Lichaj, who enters the box with the ball at his feet. A chance to shoot, but one he takes a couple of strides too early. It’s easily blocked.
GOAL! Hull City 0-2 Chelsea (Tomori 64)
Karma does for Hull. Barkley takes the resulting free kick, out on the right. He curls it long for Tomori, who races in from the left to meet the ball, heading carefully past Long. Easy as that.
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63 min: Zouma creams a lovely pass down the inside-right channel to release Mount. Lichaj clips his ankle before he can get away, taking a cynical booking for the team.
62 min: Chelsea stroke it around the back for a bit, drawing some of Hull’s sting. The KCOM simmers down.
60 min: Hull make their first change, replacing Wilks with Grosicki.
59 min: Bowen nutmegs Alonso in the centre circle and skedaddles down the middle of the park. It’s a lovely slaloming run. When he reaches the edge of the box, he tries to send a rising shot into the top left. It rises a wee bit too much, and wafts over the bar. Bowen is having a great game.
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58 min: Bowen sees a shot blocked on the edge of the box. Wilks can’t keep the move going when the ball breaks to him on the left. Hull are asking a few questions now.
57 min: Hull are pinging the ball around with much more confidence now. Chelsea are being starved of possession right now. They’ve only had 20% of the ball in the last five minutes. Some shift in momentum.
55 min: Another corner for Hull, won by McKenzie down the right. Bowen, who has been Hull’s star performer this evening, makes a rare blot on his copybook by failing to beat the first man. Kovacic clears with ease.
54 min: One corner leads to another, which leads to nothing. But Hull’s performance since the restart has got the crowd going again. This is a proper cup tie now.
53 min: A brilliant take by Bowen, who brings a wild Da Silva pass down from the sky and under control with a telescopic leg. It gives him the opportunity to rush down the right wing and earn a corner.
51 min: It’s been a good start to the half by Hull (again). They’ve clearly been told at half-time that there’s little point in dying wondering. Much more positive.
49 min: ... nothing occurs. But Hull come back at Chelsea, Bowen crossing from the right, the ball inexplicably missed by both Chelsea centre-backs and nearly finding Eaves alone on the penalty spot. Once again, Eaves can’t sort his feet out in time, and the chance to trap and shoot is gone.
48 min: Hull stream forward again, McKenzie slipping Bowen in down the right. Bowen drops a shoulder to trick Alonso and romps into the box. He reaches the byline but can’t find anyone in the middle. Still, it’s deflected out for a corner, from which ...
47 min: Kane likes the look of this. His eyes flickering. He sends a curler towards the top left ... but there’s too much curl and not enough speed on the free kick. It was always going wide, and had it been on target, it would have been an easy catch for Caballero.
46 min: Bowen dribbles down the inside-left channel and is cynically tripped by Kovacic, who deservedly goes in the referee’s notebook. A free kick 30 yards out, just to the left of centre.
We’re off again! Chelsea get the second half underway. No half-time changes.
Half-time entertainment. It was 25 years ago today ...
HALF TIME: Hull City 0-1 Chelsea
Hull nearly don’t survive it. Alonso reaches the byline out on the left. He pulls back long for Azpilicueta, who chests the ball down the inside-right channel before smashing a shot at Long, the keeper saving at his near post. And that’s the end of the first half. Hull have been given the runaround, but there’s only one goal in it. Chelsea will be acutely aware that they’ve been down this road before.
45 min: There will be one additional first-half minute.
44 min: Another Hull free kick, some more head tennis in the Chelsea box. The visitors manage to clear eventually, but the last couple of minutes will give Hull a little succour. Chelsea should have put this tie to bed, but the hosts aren’t out of this yet.
43 min: A free kick out on the Hull left leads to some head tennis in the Chelsea box. The ball’s half cleared, then returned by Kane, who finds Eaves with a classy diagonal pass. Eaves brings it down, turns, and sends a bobbler straight at Caballero.
41 min: Bowen dances down the right. Chelsea are light at the back. He’s got Wilks to one side, Eaves the other ... and plays the ball straight to Tomori in the middle. “The FA cup is all about tradition and history,” writes Mary Waltz. “How can Chelsea choose a Spursy White over the Royal Blue? The triumph of merchandise marketing over tradition. How sad!”
39 min: Azpilicueta slides a precision pass down the right flank for Barkley, who is released into acres. He’s got clear options in the middle, but looks for Batshuayi at the busy near post. The pass isn’t much good, and Batshuayi’s effort to stab home from a tight spot is easily blocked.
37 min: That was much better from the hosts. And a reminder for Chelsea that, despite their dominance, and all the chances created, their one-goal lead is a slender one. It’s far from the first time this season that their chance creation/conversion ratio has been all out of whack.
35 min: Hull launch a rare attack, Bowen turning on a sixpence in midfield and dribbling towards the Chelsea box with purpose. He tries a shot but it doesn’t come off. The ball breaks left for Wilks, whose cross is trapped by Bowen on the penalty spot. Bowen spins and shoots, meekly, straight at Caballero.
33 min: Hull, hypnotised by Chelsea’s passing, are suddenly rudely woken up when Kovacic rolls a lovely pass down the inside left for Mount, who breaks clear but shoots straight at Long. The Hull keeper has already earned his corn this evening, whatever happens next.
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32 min: And the KCOM is very quiet as a result. A full house, but it’s only the small band of travelling Chelsea supporters who are making any noise.
30 min: Chelsea are toying with Hull at the moment. Hudson-Odoi, Barkley and Azpilicueta stroke it up and down the right, nearly opening up the hosts a couple of times. Hull are just about holding their shape, but they’ve had to make a fair number of desperate last-ditch clearances. They can’t keep going like this.
28 min: Mount trundles a ball along the corridor of uncertainty from the left. It invites a tap-in, but nobody in 1970 retro blue white has gambled. It’s surely a matter of time before Chelsea make it two.
27 min: Kovacic finds Alonso down the left with a crisp pass. Alonso sends it into the box first time; Burke slides in to concede a corner before Batshuayi can get involved. From the corner, Barkley drags a shot wide right from distance.
25 min: Mount turns away from two men, deep in his own half, and strides upfield. He slips Hudson-Odoi into space down the right. The resulting cross isn’t far away from Batshuayi. Tafazolli clears just in time.
23 min: Wilks tries to release Eaves down the left. But now he’s the one overhitting an easy pass. One Wilks cross apart, Hull haven’t caused Chelsea any real bother since falling behind.
21 min: Wilks is standing alone in acres of space on the left. Burke tries to release him with a simple pass, but hoicks straight into the stand. Hull’s early confidence is kaput. Mount dribbles up the other end and sees a shot blocked on the edge of the Hull box. The way this match is going, it won’t be long before Chelsea double their lead.
19 min: Before the free kick is taken, Azpilicueta and Da Silva are pulled aside for a good talking-to, having spent the last 30 seconds pushing and shoving each other. Eventually Mount is allowed to take, and it’s easily cleared.
18 min: Mount rakes a long ball down the right. Lichaj should clear easily, but takes a heavy touch and clatters into Azpilicueta, who was sniffing around. A free kick for Chelsea just to the right of the box.
16 min: Now it’s Chelsea who are first to everything. Mount slips a cute pass down the middle to release Barkley, who is clear on goal but shoots straight at Long. Worrying signs for Hull after that fast start. Chelsea have enjoyed 70% possession since taking the lead.
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14 min: Barkley sprays the ball right for Azpilicueta, whose low cross is trapped by Batshuayi, on the edge of the six-yard box. But his back is to the goal, and he can’t spin and shoot. No worries, he soon comes back at Hull again, chasing a Pedro pass down the left and fluttering the side netting with a deflected shot. The resulting corner is nothing to write home about.
12 min: Chelsea ping the ball around in a pretty style. They don’t really go anywhere, just doing it because they can.
10 min: Lichaj bombs down the left and slips the ball forward for Wilks, who reaches the byline and loops towards the far post. Caballero flaps, and the ball lands at the feet of Eaves, just to the right of goal, six yards out. Or rather, the ball lands between the feet of Eaves. The striker can’t sort himself out, and the ball clanks away from danger.
8 min: Chelsea were all over the shop for the first five minutes. But once they strung a few passes together, Hull were opened up with ease. A fortunate finish, mind. Chelsea, their tails up, win a couple of corners down the left as Hull reel from that sucker punch. They clear their lines eventually.
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GOAL! Hull City 0-1 Chelsea (Batshuayi 6)
Chelsea finally get into the Hull half. Their first attack. And they score. Azpilicueta tears down the right and crosses deep. Mount, coming in from the left, shoots straight into a thicket of Hull defenders. The ball breaks to Batshuayi on the penalty spot. A snapshot is deflected and bounces apologetically into the net.
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4 min: Another loose ball in the midfield, and Hull are onto it first again. Kane slips a ball down the inside-right channel for Eaves, who nearly works space to shoot, but Zouma ushers the ball out for a corner. Again, the set piece is no good, but Hull are all over Chelsea like a rash in these opening exchanges. Chelsea in need of some Tiger balm.
3 min: Bowen bustles down the left and hooks a high ball into the box. Caballero rises above Eaves to claim. Hull are first to everything at the moment. Chelsea have started cold.
2 min: Honeyman works his way down the right again, playing a ball towards Bowen, just inside the box. Zouma is forced to block out for the first corner of the match. The set piece is a bit of a non-event. But this is a determined start by the Championship side.
And we’re off! The hosts get the party started. They’re on the front foot immediately, Honeyman bursting down the right only to run the ball out for a goal kick. A full house at the KCOM, with noise to match.
The teams are out! A good old-fashioned FA Cup atmosphere at the KCOM. It’s cold on Humberside, despite the jets of fire parping pitchside during the pre-match pleasantries. We’ll be off in a minute!
And now here’s Frank Lampard. “We need to get ourselves right, our mindset, how we approach the game. Giant killing, I understand that, I know the Championship very well. We must get it right. I loved it every time I won the FA Cup as a player, I loved it as a boy watching it, and all the Chelsea fans feel the same. The FA Cup has great history, and we have to tackle it head on. There are some players who don’t play so regularly, it’s important for me to use them. Individually there are opportunities everywhere. I know Grant McCann, we came through at West Ham together so I know how much he’ll be up for this. People are expectant, they want to see us fail, so that’s a test for us.”
A word with the Hull manager Grant McCann. “It’s going to be a tough challenge, but a good opportunity to test ourselves. Our boys are looking forward to the game, the stadium is full, and we’re going to try to entertain. We’re doing OK at the minute, we’d like to be closer to the play-offs, that’s our number-one priority but this is a nice distraction.”
Chelsea’s bespoke FA Cup kit, marking the 50th anniversary of the very first time they lifted the famous old pot, really is a work of art. A shame, then, that they’ll not be wearing it this evening. Slightly odd, having gone to such lengths, but marketing executives gotta market. Chelsea will instead wear second-choice white, while Hull sport the usual tiger print.
Four changes for Hull City from the side that lost 1-0 at Derby. Out go Callum Elder, Josh Bowler, Jackson Irvine and Josh Magennis; in come Tom Eaves, Robbie McKenzie, George Honeyman and Mallik Wilks.
Chelsea see Hull’s four, and raise them four, with eight changes to the side that drew 2-2 with Arsenal. Out go Kepa, Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen, Emerson, Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Tammy Abraham and Willian; in come Willy Caballero, Kurt Zouma, Fikayo Tomori, Marcos Alonso, Ross Barkley, Mason Mount, Pedro and Michy Batshuayi.
The teams
Hull City: Long, McKenzie, Burke, Tafazolli, Lichaj, Da Silva, Kane, Honeyman, Bowen, Wilks, Eaves.
Subs: Grosicki, Ingram, McLoughlin, Kingsley, Magennis, Irvine, Samuelsen.
Chelsea: Caballero, Azpilicueta, Zouma, Tomori, Alonso, Barkley, Kovacic, Mount, Pedro, Batshuayi, Hudson-Odoi.
Subs: Christensen, Willian, Cumming, Emerson, Gilmour, Lamptey, Maatsen.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire).
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Preamble
Chelsea, fourth in the Premier League, should see off Hull City, mid-table in the Championship. Shouldn’t they?
Well, they’ve won their last seven games against Hull. And while they’re not exactly the model of consistency under Frank Lampard, they dealt with Nottingham Forest, another Championship team, easily enough in the third round. Hull, meanwhile, have lost their last two matches, 180 minutes of football which saw them register a grand total of three attempts on target. Put it that way, and only one result seems possible.
Thing is, this is the FA Cup. So you never know. Which is why we all tune in. Can the 2014 runners-up beat the 1970, 1997, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2018 winners? Or vice versa? It’s on!
Kick off: 5.30pm GMT.
