More misery was heaped upon struggling Chelsea manager Graham Potter's shoulders as they fell to their second defeat to Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in the space of a week, with an aggregate score of 6-0.
The last goal that Chelsea managed to score against the Premier League 2021/22 champions was the Kai Havertz's winner from the 2021 UEFA Champions League Final. Here's what we learnt as they faced up in the third round of the FA Cup.
Vialli Remembered -
Chelsea and Italy legendary striker Gianluca Vialli tragically died at the age of 58 this week from cancer. Both sides engaged in a minutes applause to pay tribute to the former Chelsea manager and player.
Vialli won the FA Cup whilst at the helm of the club during the 1999/2000 campaign, beating Aston Villa in the final at the old Wembley Stadium. He played 58 times for Chelsea and scored 21 goals for the Londoners. Most recently he had been the Italian national side's Assistant Manager for their UEFA Euro 2020 win.
Cup Exit -
Chelsea exit the FA Cup, a competition they have had incredible success in, winning the trophy on eight occasions, at the third round stage for the first time in 25 years. This now leaves them out of both domestic cup competitions and tenth in the domestic league.
Without a win since their 2-0 victory over Bournemouth on December 27th, Potter's side are struggling to create goal-scoring chances and are rarely managing to test goalkeepers. During the first half they failed to trouble City's stand-in keeper Stefan Ortega at all, and only managed one on-target attempt throughout the course of the fixture. Starting striker Havertz was subbed off at half-time, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failed to make the bench, following a poor performance against City in the league fixture at Stamford Bridge.
Potter will point to the long list of injuries his squad have suffered in recent months, but performances have been under par and the supporters, at least those inside the Etihad Stadium voiced their frustrations, chanting the name of their former manager Thomas Tuchel at stages, and booing their players off the pitch.
City don't need Haaland -
City's Super-striker Erling Haaland didn't get any minutes against Chelsea in the FA Cup, because he didn't need to. Man of the match Riyad Mahrez has scored in each of his three appearances against Chelsea this season, bagging two in this latest match-up, opening and closing the afternoon's scoring.
FIFA World Cup 2022 winner Julian Alvarez started up front instead of Haaland and also managed to get on the scoresheet, converting a penalty against Kepa Arrizabalaga, despite the Chelsea goalkeeper's best attempts to put off the Argentinian. Phil Foden added another to ensure each of City's front three came away with a goal or two, in stark contrast to the Chelsea forward line.
New Faces -
If there were anyy positives for Chelsea, it came from seeing some new faces in the team. 19-year old Bashir Humphreys made his debut for the club at centre-back, partnering the experienced Kalidou Koulibaly and playing the whole 90 minutes. Humphreys put in a promising performance in a position where Chelsea need relief for the veteran Thiago Silva, surely providing some comfort, as will the continuing trend of top quality players emerging from the club's Cobham Academy. Fellow graduates Lewis Hall and Omari Hutchinson also featured, with Hall completing the full 90 minutes and preferred to Marc Cucurella who has not impressed when attempting to fill the injured Ben Chilwell's boots when playing in the left-back role of a defensive four.
Humphreys was joined by new signing David Datro Fofana, who also made his debut for Chelsea having arrived from Molde FK. Fofana made an appearance as a substitute far too late to make any meaningful contribution to the game, but who is a young striker that has achieved three caps with the Ivory Coast national team and scored 15 goals in 24 matches in 2022 whilst playing in the Norwegian league.