Newcastle 3-0

Guardian:

Chelsea 3 Newcastle 0

Michy Batshuayi double helps Chelsea saunter past Newcastle in FA Cup

Daniel Taylor at Stamford Bridge


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.


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.




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Telegraph:


Chelsea 3 Newcastle United 0: Michy Batshuayi scores twice as Antonio Conte's men march on in the FA Cup


Ben Rumsby


He scored his 18th and 19th goals in just 18 Chelsea starts and his 10th in 10 this season on Sunday, but Michy Batshuayi was still facing being dispatched on loan before the transfer window closed.

With just three more days of player trading remaining, Batshuayi’s man-of-the-match performance against Newcastle United was the perfect opportunity for Antonio Conte to declare that the Belgian was going nowhere this month.

The fact he did not do so reinforced the impression Chelsea’s manager simply refuses to trust the striker to lead the line in the big games, having preferred Eden Hazard up front in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final defeat to Arsenal.

The official line from Conte on Sunday remained that he would be “happy” were the 24-year-old to stay – even if he completed the signing of Edin Dzeko or another target man before 11pm on Wednesday – and that three strikers was the “minimum” required.

He also declared it was down to the player to ask to leave, with Batshuayi desperate for regular football in order to secure a place in Belgium’s World Cup squad, amid fierce competition up front.

Speaking about a player he claimed had “a lot of space for improvement”, Conte said: “If the club decides to add another player then I don’t know if Michy wants to stay or to go on loan. In this case, it would be a player decision, not my decision.”

That was after Batshuayi said about his own future: “It is not me but the boss so it is better you ask Conte.”

Even if he does stay, he might not even get to start Wednesday’s Premier League game against Bournemouth, with Conte revealing that Alvaro Morata would resume training on Monday following his back injury.


Scoring with his first two shots on target on Sunday, Batshuayi certainly proved that for all Conte’s complaints that seem destined to end his time at Chelsea, he is still able to field a side for which the likes of Newcastle have no answer.

Indeed, with Marcos Alonso also cracking in a trademark free-kick, it was easy to come away from the game with the impression that everything was fine and well at Stamford Bridge.

That is far from the case but at least Conte comfortably avoided a second cup exit inside five days and kept alive the prospect of what could prove his last match in charge in May’s FA Cup final.

After being denied the Double in that exact fixture in his debut season, it is a competition in which the Italian has unfinished business.


It is almost 12 years since Rafael Benitez’s sole FA Cup triumph, with Liverpool, and his decision to change half his outfield line-up here suggested it was always destined to become 13. Yet, there was none of the parking the bus by Benitez that so blighted Newcastle’s recent defeats against Manchester City.

Sensing Chelsea were there for the taking following the Carabao Cup defeat to Arsenal that drove a further wedge between Conte and his board, Benitez’s players barely gave them a moment’s peace.

They forced mistake after mistake, and when Massadio Haidara glided past Davide Zappacosta down the left and crossed for Jonjo Shelvey in the 25th minute, Willy Caballero was required to repel a near-post volley.

But the visitors were undone six minutes later after one of the balls of the season, Pedro's defence-splitting 40-yard pass perfectly into Hazard’s path.

Hazard, in turn, found Alonso, who gave Batshuayi the easiest of finishes unmarked in front of goal.

The goal failed to settle Chelsea and Dwight Gayle tested Caballero, who came to the rescue again when Danny Drinkwater presented the ball to Shelvey.

But it was simply not Newcastle’s day. First, Pedro, Hazard and Batshuayi combined again a minute before the break with another lightning raid that saw the latter’s finish loop up off Jamaal Lascelles and into the net. And after Shelvey and Ciaran Clark were both denied again by the excellent Caballero, Chelsea killed the game off with the second of two moments of magic from Alonso.

The first was a spectacular volley that might have flown in but for a deflection off Javier Manquillo, and the second a wonderful free-kick 18 minutes from time that left Karl Darlow clutching at air. Conte was philosophical afterwards about the time it was taking Chelsea to recruit a striker this month, saying the January transfer market was “not simple”.

Those sentiments about drafting in reinforcements were echoed by Benitez, who insisted 3-0 was not a fair reflection of Sunday’s game.

“We are trying to do business but we still have time – I hope we can do something,” he said.




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Mail:


Chelsea 3-0 Newcastle: Michy Batshuayi's double and a classy Marcos Alonso free-kick seal FA Cup win as Antonio Conte's side cruise into the last 16


By Matt Barlow for the Daily Mail

Michy Batshuayi could not convert Antonio Conte with the goal which won the title at West Bromwich Albion or a late winner at Atletico Madrid or a hat-trick in the League Cup against Nottingham Forest.

So two more in the FA Cup against Newcastle — one tapped into an open goal and one assisted by an enormous deflection — are not going to transform his future at Chelsea.

As far as Conte is concerned, there is more to the matter than sheer weight of goals. The manager wants to see more technical polish during open play, an improvement in energy and mobility and greater team awareness from his centre forward.


Chelsea will continue their pursuit of Edin Dzeko from Roma and if they sign him — or any other centre forward before Wednesday's transfer deadline — they will consider Batshuayi's desire to leave on loan.

Sevilla are interested in taking him to Spain for the rest of the campaign but the clock is ticking and a series of midweek Premier League fixtures will complicate the final days of the January market.

If this turns out to be his final appearance of the season at Stamford Bridge, Batshuayi was at least able to savour it, having scored twice in the first-half to set the champions on the path to the last 16.


He celebrated with an emoji-laced tweet about his new hairdo, having moved into double figures for the season and enhanced an impressive goals-per-starts ratio.

Batshuayi has 19 goals in 18 starts plus 35 appearances as a substitute since his arrival from Marseille for £33million in the summer of 2016 and he might easily have finished this tie with a hat-trick.

Twice in the closing minutes he was denied by Newcastle goalkeeper Karl Darlow, the first effort following a flash of fancy footwork which left Chancel Mbemba scrambling around on the turf, not for the first time.

Marcos Alonso scored Chelsea's third, a free-kick curled over the defensive wall and past Darlow in the second-half which added comfort to the win for last year's beaten finalists.

Newcastle's long wait for major silverware goes on and they rarely even get close any more.

It is 12 years since they made it to the FA Cup fifth round and Rafa Benitez sounded like a manager with other priorities as he dodged questions on the transfer window with an extensive range of enigmatic facial expressions but very few words of interest.

For half-an-hour on the pitch the Benitez strategy was encouraging. Newcastle defended in numbers with a back-five and an industrious midfield diamond behind Dwight Gayle, often marooned as the lone striker.

They were aggressive and physical, hustling Chelsea into mistakes on the ball and even managed to threaten occasionally on the counter-attack during the first-half.

Willy Caballero made the first save of the game from Jonjo Shelvey and was the busier goalkeeper before the interval but the game changed with Batshuayi's double inside 13 minutes.

Both goals came from sweeping attacking moves launched by from Pedro, from deep in Chelsea territory on the right to Eden Hazard advancing on the left.

Pedro released Hazard for the first with a magnificent pass, teased behind Mbemba, who had a difficult afternoon charged with the task of shackling the Belgian.

Hazard feinted to go outside and checked the ball inside, for the run of wing back Alonso who stabbed a pass across goal where Batshuayi tapped a simple finish into the unguarded net.

Pedro won possession for the second in a similar area and punished Newcastle on the turnover, again picking out Hazard who rolled a pass to Batshuayi.

Jamaal Lascelles slid at full stretch in an attempt to block the low drive but only managed to defect it and send the ball spiralling high over the head of stranded Darlow.

When it was 1-0, Caballero denied both Gayle, who rolled away from Antonio Rudiger, and Shelvey, who pounced when Danny Drinkwater was caught in possession on the edge of his own penalty box.

At 2-0, Chelsea's back-up keeper, deputising for Thibaut Courtois, produced an excellent save to ensure Mbemba did not reduce the deficit before half-time.

There were no such alarms for Conte's team after the interval as the deficit forced Newcastle to play with a little more adventure and created the space to make Chelsea more dangerous.

Darlow made an excellent save to keep out an outrageous volley by Alonso which clipped Javier Manquillo and made the work of the goalkeeper even more eye-catching.

Alonso did find the net, curling in a free-kick, 18 minutes from time, after a foul on Davide Zappacosta. It was a seventh goal of the season for the prolific wing-back.

With the tie settled and Bournemouth due at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, Conte took the chance to withdraw key men Hazard, N'Golo Kante and Pedro.

Ross Barkley came on for his home debut and there were rare opportunities for teenagers Ethan Ampadu and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

A glimpse of the future perhaps but a future unlikely to include Batshuayi.


Chelsea (3-4-3): Caballero 7; Rudiger 6, Christensen 6, Cahill 6; Zappacosta 6.5, Kante 6.5 (Ampadu 77), Drinkwater 6, Alonso 7.5; Pedro 8 (Hudson-Odoi 81), Batshauyi 7, Hazard 7.5 (Barkley 73, 5)

Goalscorers: Batshuayi 31, 44, Alonso 72

Subs not used: Eduardo, Fabregas, Moses, Musonda.

Manager: Antonio Conte 7


Newcastle (5-3-1-1): Darlow 6.5; Manquillo 5.5 (Murphy 77), Mbemba 5, Lascelles 6, Clark 6, Haidara 6; Hayden 6 (Atsu 83), Saivet 6, Shelvey 6; Ritchie 5; Gayle 5 (Joselu 64, 5).

Bookings: Mbemba

Subs not used: Woodman, Dummett, Diame, Yedlin.

Manager: Rafa Benitez 6

Referee: Kevin Friend

Attendance: 41,049