Chelsea cruised into the sixth round of the FA Cup with a comfortable 4-0 win over Hull on Friday (Feb 16).
Willian scored twice as a first-half blitz from Chelsea secured an emphatic 4-0 win over Hull City at Stamford Bridge to book their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals. The Brazilian opened the scoring after just 106 seconds with a composed finish, before Pedro doubled the home side's advantage after being put through by Cesc Fabregas (27).
Willian capitalised on more slack defending from the Tigers to stroke in his second (32) and Olivier Giroud then met fellow new signing Emerson Palmieri's cross at the near post to stretch the lead three minutes before half-time.
David Meyler missed a second-half penalty for Nigel Adkins' side as Chelsea cruised into the next round ahead of next week's Champions League showdown with Barcelona.
Only Swindon and Wolves have been relegated from the Premier League to the third tier in successive seasons, but with just six Championship wins to their name this campaign, it was understandable that Hull manager Adkins rung the changes.
But the performance of those handed the opportunity to impress was disjointed and indicative of a side missing 12 first-team players as Chelsea wreaked havoc to reach the last eight.
Hull made the worst possible start as Kevin Stewart was dispossessed by Giroud in the second minute before Willian used the Frenchman as a decoy as he bent his left-footed shot into David Marshall's bottom right corner.
Chelsea doubled their lead after a sublime ball from Fabregas over a depleted Hull defence enabled Pedro to slot home, and worse was to come five minutes later.
Stewart failed to intercept Willian's attempted flick and, after Giroud worked the ball back into his path, the Brazilian curled a shot beyond the hapless Marshall via the left-hand post.
Giroud's link-up play was a feature of the match and, having provided two assists, the striker opened his Chelsea account with a smart finish at the near post following good work down the left by debutant Emerson.
Chelsea blooded youth in the second period as Callum Hudson-Odoi and Kyle Scott entered the fray, but the visitors restored some pride with an improved display that was very nearly capped by a consolation six minutes after the restart.
Fabregas was late on Harry Wilson, and referee Andre Marriner had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, but Blues 'keeper Willy Caballero denied Meyler with a comfortable save to his right to keep his clean sheet intact.
Willian came close to completing his hat-trick in the final minutes but his shot from the edge of the box struck the outside of the post as Chelsea cruised into the draw for the next round.
