Thomas Tuchel hailed Chelsea’s professionalism in settling their FA Cup third-round clash with Chesterfield before half-time.
The Blues cruised past their National League opponents 5-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, racing into a 4-0 half-time lead before a raft of withdrawals to keep players fresh.
Teen debutant Lewis Hall laid on a goal for Romelu Lukaku, with the returning Belgium striker missing a trio of chances before being subbed at the break.
Timo Werner, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Andreas Christensen all netted, before Hakim Ziyech converted a penalty.
Akwasi Asante raised the roof with a consolation for Chesterfield to send the raucous visiting fans into a frenzy.
But Chelsea were never truly troubled by the side 91 places below them in the league structure.
Chelsea will now move to Wednesday’s League Cup semi-final second leg at Tottenham, with Tuchel delighted to press on unscathed.
“I’m happy with the attitude, with how we started; we started well and we decided the match very early; this is what we wanted,” he said.
“So it’s job done, we decided the match in the first half, which was important.”
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