Chelsea made easy work of some poor defending by MK Dons on Sunday as they won 5-1 to book a place in the FA Cup Fifth Round. Oscar's hat-trick was the first of his Chelsea career while Eden Hazard and Bertrand Traore also netted their first goals of the season.
Darren Potter equalised for the hosts in the first half before Chelsea deservedly ran away with the game.
Oscar bags first hat-trick
It didn't take long for Chelsea to get on the front foot and they should've been 1-0 up inside three minutes. Excellent work for Hazard and Oscar set up Diego Costa but the striker's shot was saved expertly by David Martin from point blank range. Chelsea were through again a few minutes later as Diego Costa set up Oscar but the Brazilian fired wide.
The visitors finally broke their duct after a quarter of an hour. Costa pounced on a dreadful mistake from Kyle McFadzean before teeing up Oscar who slid the ball into an empty net. The hosts were level seven minutes later after Darren Potter's effort from distance deflected off Nemanja Matic and looped over Thibaut Courtois.
Chelsea should've regained the lead five minutes after being pegged back as Hazard beat the offside trap and was 1v1 with the 'keeper but he was thwarted at the first attempt before striking the post with the follow up. Chelsea continued to exploit a poor MK Dons defence but failed to make it count moments after Hazard's miss. Baba Rahman's ball to the far post was waiting to be tapped in by Oscar but Costa took it off his teammate's foot, putting it wide.
It was finally 2-1 to Chelsea after the half hour mark. Ruben Loftus-Cheek ran with the ball before playing a perfect through ball to Oscar, who finished emphatically into the far corner. His second and Chelsea's second, the Blues never looked back from that moment on.
Oscar completed his first Chelsea hat-trick on the stroke of half time with a wonderful solo goal. The midfielder ran across the edge of the box, leaving a handful of defenders in his wake, before curling into the far corner from 19 yards.
Hazard finally off the mark
The second half followed a similar storyline to the first as Chelsea continued on the front foot and won a penalty inside the first ten minutes. Hazard was brought down by the MK Dons goalscorer, Potter, after a quick one-two with Baba Rahman. The Belgian stepped up and bagged his first goal of the season after much criticism all season. A kiss of the badge and a huge sense of relief from Hazard as he celebrated making it 4-1.
MK Dons failed to create any sense of attacking threat in the second half but Rob Hall did force Courtois into a save on the hour mark with a powerful shot. The Premier League side made it five goals to the good in the 62nd minute as substitute Bertrand Traore turned home Hazard's pull back for his first ever goal for Chelsea.
Traore was inches away from grabbing his second with 12 minutes to go but he failed to convert from Baba's cross, turning it wide of the near post. MK Dons did have a chance late on but Courtois got down to stop Daniel Powell's low-drive effort.
Chelsea cruise into the 5th Round of the FA Cup with a comfortable 5-1 win at Stadium MK. A game to remember for Bertrand Traore as he opened his account for Chelsea.