Adarabioyo nets two as Chelsea outclass Morecambe

Defender Tosin Adarabioyo scored twice from outside the box as Chelsea cruised into the fourth round of the FA Cup with a win over League Two strugglers Morecambe at Stamford Bridge.

Morecambe keeper Harry Burgoyne impressed in the first half and saved Christopher Nkunku's early penalty after visiting captain Yann Songo'o was penalised for a handball.

But Chelsea eventually broke the deadlock in fortunate circumstances as Adarabioyo's shot from the edge of the box deflected wickedly off midfielder Callum Jones into the net after 39 minutes.

Straight after the restart Nkunku netted the Blues' second on the rebound after Burgoyne had denied Renato Veiga.

Adarabioyo, who had only scored once for Chelsea before Saturday, netted his second and the hosts' third in the 70th minute with a wonderful curling effort into the top corner from 25 yards out.

And, as Morecambe faded, Joao Felix added two further late goals, the first a side-footed finish from the edge of the area and the second a fine curling strike from a tight angle, to give Chelsea a resounding win.

"It was the first time in my professional career I was on a hat-trick," 27-year-old centre-back Adarabioyo told BBC Match of the Day.

After his second, the former Fulham defender was encouraged to shoot every time he got on the ball by the home fans and admitted he secretly wanted to, but was often "too far out".

Adarabioyo joined Chelsea in the summer, but has struggled to break into the first team and has made just nine league appearances this term.

After the match Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca praised his players for being "very professional and very serious".

Morecambe manager Derek Adams was upbeat despite the result, telling BBC Match of the Day the tie was "a fantastic day for our fans".

"We've taken in probably about £350,000 from today," he added. "It's a lot of money for us."

Morecambe are one place off the bottom of the League Two table and entered a packed Stamford Bridge having lost all of their previous third-round matches, including a 4-0 defeat at Chelsea in 2021.

They were facing a Blues side 87 places above them in the football pyramid who have lost just one third-round match since 2000.

But, despite the vast differences in resources and history, for the first 30 minutes the teams looked evenly matched with the Shrimpers' Ben Tollitt and Marcus Dackers forcing Filip Jorgensen into simple saves.

Chelsea made 10 changes from their last fixture, with Reece James and Romeo Lavia both given starts having recovered from lengthy injuries.

The star of the first half though was undoubtedly Morecambe keeper Burgoyne, who had only secured the number one spot for the Lancashire side in November.

He did brilliantly diving to his right to keep out Nkunku's penalty, then did well to tip a Felix shot around the post.

Morecambe are struggling to stay in the football league, sitting five points from safety, but did almost leave West London with a late goal when Harvey Macadam's header from a corner was cleared off the line by Axel Disasi.

After a poor festive period, eight-time winners Chelsea - who are fourth in the Premier League - ended a run of four matches without a win in all competitions and recorded just their third clean sheet since the start of December.

They will be in the FA Cup fourth-round draw live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer following the conclusion of the Arsenal v Manchester United, which kicks off at 15:00 GMT on Sunday.