Football

FA Cup: Chelsea comes from behind to beat plucky Plymouth

By Aman Shukla

Chelsea suffered an FA Cup 4th round scare on Saturday when it had to come from behind and required extra time and a penalty save to beat League One Plymouth Argyle 2-1 with goals from Spaniards Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso.

Plymouth stunned the Premier League side when defender Macaulay Gillesphey nodded the ball home from a free kick in the eighth minute, sparking wild celebration and a shower of green balloons from the travelling fans.

Chelsea hit the woodwork three times in the first half, two times through Mateo Kovacic and again through Callum Hudson-Odoi but Plymouth’s all drilled defence kept the European champion under control until the 41st minute when quality told.

Captain Azpilicueta scored with a backheel from a low Mason Mount cross.

Plymouth absorbed waves of Chelsea attacks in the second half and extra time and last-ditch defending as well as inspired goalkeeping from Mike Cooper kept the host out until the 16th minute of extra time.

Alonso broke the deadlock when he got on the end of a pass from Kai Havertz and swept the ball in and with five minutes to go Kepa Arrizabalaga saved a penalty from Ryan Hardie.

 

Aman Shukla

Aman Shukla is a post-graduate in mass communication. A media enthusiast who has a stronghold on communication, content writing, and copy writing. Aman is currently working as a subeditor at dailyindianews.com and can be reached at [email protected]