Barnsley and Chelsea faced each other at the Oakwell Stadium in the FA Cup’s fifth round. We have the player ratings.
Chelsea are through to the FA Cup’s quarter-finals after beating Championship’s side Barnsley with great difficulty. In fact, not only did the Blues fail to score more than once, Barnsley had almost three times more shot attempts than their opponents.
Although Tuchel’s side naturally dominated the possession of the ball, the Tykes always looked quite dangerous through the feet of Brittain and Woodrow. However, they faced a sharp-looking Kepa as the goalkeeper made his comeback for the Blues.
Nevertheless, Chelsea had a very active man in the front. Tammy Abraham’s energetic display ended up giving his club a place in the FA Cup’s next round. Reece James entered the box from the right-wing and gave Tammy Abraham the chance to score his fourth Cup goal with a tap-in.
In fact, the young striker proved he is a player with many skills as he revealed to be a decent defender as well. As the match came to an end, Abraham also stopped Barnsley from scoring a late equalizer with a goal-line clearance. After the game, Abraham confessed he used to play in the back when he was younger. Moreover, that training clearly came in hand for the Blues this Thursday.
Chelsea now move on to the FA Cup’s quarter-finals although they only had a single shot on target against Barnsley. Thomas Tuchel’s style of play surely offers a great deal of ball possession. However, the manager is yet to inspire his players to follow through in the final third of the pitch.
Player ratings
Barnsley: Collins (5), Brittain (7), Sibbick (5), Helik (6), Andersen (6), Styles (5), Mowatt (5), Kane (6), Chaplin (6), Adeboyejo (5), Woodrow (7).
Bench: Dike (5), Frieser (6), Williams (5), Palmer (5), Solibauer (5).
Chelsea: Kepa (7), Christensen (5), Zouma (6), Emerson (5), Hudson-Odoi (6), Alonso (5), Kante (6), Gilmour (6), Ziyech (5), Pulisic (5), Abraham (7).
Bench: Rudiger (5), James (6), Anjorin (5), Kovacic (5).
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