At the end of a stress-free victory for Antonio Conte’s men, Chelsea had safely navigated a passage into the FA Cup fifth round for the 18th time in 20 seasons and the crowd were standing to acclaim their manager after one of those intermittent periods – such is modern life at Stamford Bridge – when he has come under scrutiny for the apparent crime of not having the Premier League sewn up.
Chelsea’s supporters must know the drill by now, after all these years of Abramovich rule, but this was about as comfortable as it gets for Conte’s men and another reminder, perhaps, about the chasm that exists between the teams near the top of the Premier League and those towards the other end. Newcastle were obliging opponents and, if anything, it was a surprise Chelsea did not add more goals to go with the two Michy Batshuayi scored before half-time and Marcos Alonso’s expertly taken free-kick during a second half when the away team displayed a startling lack of self-belief.
For Newcastle, that makes it 12 years since they last reached the fifth round and they will have left Stamford Bridge knowing that the next time they play in this competition it will have been half a century since their ribbons fluttered from a trophy of any description.
Not too many Newcastle fans remember the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and their dissatisfaction could be heard in the form of several mutinous chants calling for an end to Mike Ashley’s ownership of the club. Those chants have become the soundtrack to Newcastle’s season and the unusually large expanse of empty seats in the away end told its own story. The early kick-off will not have helped travel arrangements but, in happier times for Newcastle, it would have been almost impossible to imagine this kind of diminished following for an FA Cup tie against the reigning league champions.
The ones who did make it still managed to make a fair old racket but it was a tepid performance from Newcastle and the game followed a familiar narrative bearing in mind Rafael Benítez’s team have managed only one point out of a possible 33 from their league encounters against top-10 sides this season. It felt like deja vu but it was particularly disappointing bearing in mind their inability to find out for themselves why Chelsea have found it such heavy going recently. Conte’s men had won only two of their previous seven fixtures since the turn of the year and one of those was in a penalty shootout against Norwich City in the previous round. Yet this was a breeze for the home side and Newcastle did not have the wit or gumption to do anything about it.
FA Cup fifth-round draw guide
The last-16 pairings will be drawn on Monday night's The One Show on BBC One. The programme starts at 7pm but expect the draw to be made at about 7.20pm. Ruud Gullit, who managed Chelsea to their 1997 FA Cup triumph, shares draw duties with Robbie Savage, who played in the Cup for Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers. Newport (9th in League Two), Coventry (7th) and Notts County (2nd) are the lowest-ranked teams left.
The numbers to look out for 1 West Bromwich Albion, 2 Leicester, 3 Huddersfield or Birmingham, 4 Notts County or Swansea, 5 Manchester United, 6 Sheffield Wednesday, 7 Cardiff or Manchester City, 8 Coventry City, 9 Millwall or Rochdale, 10 Southampton, 11 Brighton, 12 Wigan, 13 Hull, 14 Newport or Tottenham, 15 Chelsea, 16 Sheffield United
The fifth-round ties will take place on the weekend of 17-18 February.
Instead, there was an air of inevitability once Batshuayi had followed up his first goal by letting fly just before half-time and finding his luck was in as the ball spun off Jamaal Lascelles to arch over the goalkeeper Karl Darlow and drop into the exposed net. Lascelles was unfortunate after throwing himself at the ball to block the shot but it must have been alarming for Benítez to see how easily his team had been opened up and the disruption in his back four.
At least there was a touch of refinement about the buildup to the first goal and, specifically, the curling through-ball that Pedro put behind Newcastle’s defence to leave Eden Hazard with the chance to run, one‑on‑one, at Chancel Mbemba. Hazard flicked the ball inside him to Alonso and the next touch fell invitingly for Batshuayi, six yards out, to fire in from the centre of goal. Batshuayi, the subject of a possible loan move to Seville, could be on his way out of Chelsea if Edin Dzeko joins from Roma. With that deal looking unlikely given that the former Manchester City striker has yet to agree personal terms, Conte, however, has indicated that he would prefer Batshuayi to stay.
Benítez spent just as long in the post-match press conference talking about his own potential transfer business – “Our fans are very clever, they know what’s going on,” he said – as he did the match itself, and Newcastle could certainly do with some more talented players.
It was a subdued response in the second half and an indictment of Benítez’s team that there was not one period of play when it felt as though they genuinely believed there was any way back. Alonso curled in the third goal from 25 yards for the game’s outstanding moment and Conte made sure to substitute Hazard, N’Golo Kanté and Pedro, keeping them back for more challenging assignments.
