Wrexham 2-4 Chelsea [AET]: Blues stop FA Cup upset in North Wales | OneFootball

Chelsea confirmed their spot in the Emirates FA Cup Quarter-finals this evening in dramatic fashion as they beat Wrexham 4-2 despite the Championship side leading twice.

Sam Smith opened the scoring for the hosts, though an Arthur Okonkwo own goal brought Chelsea level before the break.

A thrilling second-half saw Wrexham regain the lead through Callum Doyle before Josh Acheampong instantly equalised.

The Red Dragons went down to ten men in the closing stages of regular time, as George Dobson saw red, however it wasn’t until extra time that goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Joao Pedro earned Chelsea the win.

As it happened

Wrexham made three changes to their starting side as they welcomed Premier League Chelsea to the Racecourse Ground. Those changes saw Zak Vyner, Smith and Ryan Longman replace Issa Kaboré, Nathan Broadhead and Kieffer Moore. Meanwhile, Chelsea made nine changes to their team following Wednesday night’s win 4-1 over Aston Villa.

After soaking up early pressure it was the hosts who took a surprise lead on 18 minutes, with the first shot of the game as Sam Smith’s finish rounded off a superb counter-attack from the Red Dragons.

Alejandro Garnacho looked to bring his side back level just before the half-hour mark but his strike went well wide of Okonkwo’s post. Wrexham continued to look dangerous as they won themselves a string of corners and forced a quick save from Robert Sanchez to force a deflected shot behind.

However, Chelsea’s equaliser came through a stroke of luck after Garnacho’s shot was cleared off the line and into Okonkwo’s back before rolling into his own net shortly before the break. Two corners in quick succession for the top flight side saw them pile the pressure on to Wrexham but they couldn’t quite get their noses in front before the end of the first half.

Wrexham started the second period well, winning themselves a corner inside the first few minutes which saw Max Cleworth head over the bar. Chelsea almost got themselves in front for the first time a few minutes later, as Garnacho’s shot was dragged narrowly wide. Liam Rosenior then turned to his bench and introduced Marc Guiu to replace Mamadou Sarr for the remaining half-hour of regular time.

The Red Dragons earned themselves another chance after George Dobson’s corner caused mayhem in the penalty area, but shouts for a spot kick were waved away by Peter Bankes. At the other end, Jorrel Hato came close but his shot went agonisingly wide. Moments later, he was replaced by Marc Cucurella who made his 150th Chelsea appearance, Dario Essugo was also introduced in favour of Lavia.

Parkinson responded with a double change of his own, as goalscorer Smith was withdrawn for Moore and Josh Windass replaced Oliver Rathbone. With 20 minutes of normal time remaining, Guiu won his side a corner however Garnacho’s eventual strike was well saved by Okonkwo.

Vyner’s first start for Wrexham came to an end after 75 minutes, with Broadhead introduced to help the second tier side find a potential winner. Another run of corners allowed the Red Dragons to continue applying pressure on the Chelsea goal and it paid off when Doyle cleverly flicked the ball into the back of the net off the back of Windass’ ambitious strike to put his side ahead with ten minutes left to play.

However, their lead lasted little more than two minutes as Acheampong drew Chelsea level after he pounced on a defensive error from George Thomason. Wrexham almost took the lead again just moments later as Thomason looked to make up for his mistake, forcing a great save from Sanchez, before Windass headed wide.

Chelsea’s hat-trick hero from Wednesday night, Pedro, was brought on from the bench to replace Liam Delap as well as Malo Gusto replacing Acheampong. As Chelsea shirts flooded the penalty area in search of winner, Pedro Neto rattled the crossbar with a ferocious strike. Dobson was shown a red card in the 90th minute after a VAR review for a late challenge on Garnacho.

Cleworth took on a long range strike with seconds of injury time remaining but it resulted in a simple save for Sanchez as the two sides headed into extra-time. Chelsea almost got themselves ahead for the first time in the match in the 5th minute of extra time, but a goalmouth scramble came to an end when Okonkwo dived on the ball.

Their goal did come just seconds later though as Garnacho, who was left completely unmarked at the back post, volleyed home much to the confusion of some fans who thought it had hit the post but instead it bounced off the base of the net. Rosenior followed up this goal with a change that saw Neto’s night come to an end with 18-year-old Jesse Derry introduced for his second senior appearance.

Early on in the second-half of extra time, Moore won Wrexham a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area that saw Windass fire well over. Andrey Santos was booked for dissent shortly before the set-piece was taken. Wrexham made their final change with just ten minutes left on the clock as Cleworth was withdrawn for Davis Keillor-Dunn as Parkinson went for all or nothing.

Moore won his side another set-piece moments later, this time a corner as the Welshman saw his header well blocked by Tosin Adarabiyo. The corner saw the hosts appear to pull themselves level through Lewis Brunt who tapped in from close just a few yards out, however it was ruled out by VAR with Brunt deemed to be offside after a lengthly review.

Moore was shown a yellow card in the final moments of the match for a foul on Cucerella, before Garnacho joined him in the book for dissent. Lewis O’Brien nearly etched his name into Wrexham folklore in the 121st minute, but his curling effort flew inches wide.

Pedro wrapped up the victory for Chelsea in the 124th minute, as he buried the ball into the bottom corner to seal his side’s spot in the quarter-final.