Chelsea averted a significant FA Cup upset with extra-time targets from Alejandro Garnacho and Joao Pedro as they gained a hard-fought 4-2 win over 10-man Wrexham.
Wrexham pushed Chelsea all the way in which and twice led, however a crimson card for George Dobson within the 93rd minute proved pricey for the Blues to lastly recover from the road.
The Championship facet shocked Chelsea within the seventeenth minute when a protracted punt from Callum Doyle went excessive and was collected by Sam Smith, who took a contact and finally fired it previous Robert Sanchez, with Chelsea’s goalkeeper penalized for a momentary hesitation.
Nonetheless, regardless of their superiority, the house facet had been caught up 5 minutes into the primary half when Garnacho’s shot was unfortunate to be cleared by George Thomason 5 minutes earlier than the break, however Arthur Okonkwo was capable of convert the rebound into the web.
Chelsea turned issues round after the break, however discovered themselves behind once more within the 78th minute when Doyle instinctively flicked Josh Windass’ shot previous Sanchez.
Nonetheless, Josh Achiampong reacted nearly instantly for Liam Rosenia’s facet simply 4 minutes after the Blues had fallen behind, smashing the ball into the roof of the purpose.
And Wrexham’s process bought even harder when Dobson was despatched off in stoppage time for a late excessive problem on Garnacho after Pedro Neto hit the crossbar, though his preliminary yellow card was upgraded after a VAR assessment.
Chelsea established a man-advantage six minutes into further time when Garnacho volleyed dwelling Dario Esgo’s pinpoint cross, however Wrexham gave the eight-time champions a scare within the 114th minute.
Lewis Brunt headed dwelling the again publish from a Kieffer Moore nook, however Wrexham’s pleasure was short-lived because the purpose was dominated out for offside and Chelsea made the a lot of the reprieve with Joao Pedro beating Okonkwo to attain within the a hundred and twenty fifth minute.
On to the quarterfinals! #CFC | #emiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/4bQhkdtEL3
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) March 7, 2026
Knowledge report: Garnacho’s cup heroics go away Chelsea red-faced
Chelsea have progressed from their earlier 25 encounters with decrease division groups within the FA Cup since dropping 4-2 to Bradford Metropolis in January 2015, however have picked up the tempo to succeed in the competitors’s final eight.
The Blues’ particular person high quality within the remaining third made the distinction, with Wrexham having the higher hand within the Anticipated Objectives (xG) battle, with 19 photographs for a complete of 1.8 factors and Chelsea’s 21 for a complete of 1.62.
Garnacho offered Manchester United’s defining second together with his first FA Cup purpose since scoring within the 2024 remaining towards Manchester Metropolis. The Argentine has scored 5 targets in seven home cup video games for Chelsea this season, however has two in 25 video games within the Premier League and Champions League.
Nonetheless, the Blues had been saved by Dobson, who grew to become the primary Wrexham participant to be despatched off in an FA Cup remaining (first spherical or later) since Luke Younger towards Newport County in December 2018.
