- Safiu Kehinde
The English Premier League giant and world champions, Chelsea, has booked a spot in the FA Cup quarterfinals following a nervy 4-2 victory against 10-man Wrexham.
Chelsea had on Saturday evening travelled to the Racecourse Ground to face the Welsh side and second-tier club.
The Liam Rosenior-led side had thought a contest against Wrexham would be an easy win as they made nine changes in the line-up which earned them emphatic 4-1 win against Aston Villa in the EPL match last week.
This however tend to be a costly gamble for the Blues as Wrexham found the back of the net barely 20 minutes into the game.
Sam Smith had put the Championship side ahead in the 18th when he sprinted onto Callum Doyle’s long pass, took a touch and fired past Robert Sanchez.
Chelsea however managed to pull an equaliser few minutes later as George Thomason’s attempt to clear Garnacho’s shot struck goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo and rolled in to bring the game on levels term before halftime.
While fans had thought the Blues would get their acts together and rolled over Wrexham in the second half, this was not the case as the host club gave Chelsea a run for their money.
The club owned by Hollywood A-listers, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, retained their lead in the 78th minute when Doyle diverted the ball past Sanchez after Ryan Longman fired it back into the area from a corner.
Chelsea would again make up for their fragile defence line as Josh Acheampong equalised soon after with a blistering shot into the roof of the net after Dobson slipped, sending the game into extra time.
Meanwhile, a 93rd minute red card by George Dobson for a rough tackle on Chelsea’s Alejandro Garnacho place the World Champions on an advantage in the extra time.
This however still did not suffice as the 10-man Wrexham put Chelsea fans at the edge of their seat despite Garnacho’s 97th minute goal which put the game at 3-2 for the London side.
Wrexham’s Lewis Brunt would head home what was initially considered an equaliser few minutes after.
The goal was unfortunately ruled offside before Joao Pedro sealed Chelsea’s hard-fought win with a close-range shot in the 125th minute.
This saw the Blues book a spot in the quarterfinals with the draw slated to hold on Monday.