Chelsea defeated Port Vale 7-0 at Stamford Bridge to book a place in the FA Cup semi-finals, ending the visitors’ run in the competition.
Port Vale, who are bottom of League One, had reached the quarter-finals for the first time in 72 years after eliminating Sunderland, but were outplayed by the Premier League side.
Chelsea took the lead after 64 seconds when Jorrel Hato scored from close range after a corner was not cleared.
Port Vale responded well early on but fell further behind in the 25th minute as Joao Pedro beat Kyle John before finishing past Joe Gauci.
The hosts made it 3-0 before half-time when Malo Gusto’s cross was pushed out by Gauci and Cole Palmer’s effort went in off Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel.
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Chelsea extended their lead in the 57th minute with Tosin Adarabioyo heading in from another Malo Gusto delivery.
Andrey Santos added the fifth goal with a header from Estevao Willian’s corner, while Estevao scored the sixth after Alejandro Garnacho’s effort hit the post, with the goal confirmed after a VAR check.
Garnacho completed the scoring from the penalty spot in stoppage time.
The result sends Chelsea to Wembley and ends a run of four defeats for head coach Liam Rosenior.
The match also followed a two-match suspension for Enzo Fernández after comments about his future at the club.
Speaking after the game, Rosenior said: “It is his opinion. I don’t have anything to say about someone else’s opinion. Enzo knows what I think of him. It was great to see him here, and now we move forward.
“The conversations I have with my individual players stay within the dressing room. The dressing room is sacred.”
He added: “It’s great, it’s why you come to this club, you want to win trophies, you want to be in big games and I was really happy with the players. Their attitude was top. We scored seven goals and that came from an energy and intensity which I enjoyed.”
Rosenior also praised Estevao, saying, “There is no ceiling for him. We’ve missed him. He comes in and just plays; he wants to get on the ball. Wherever he is on the pitch, he’s a threat.”
Port Vale manager Jon Brady said: “We put ourselves under extreme pressure, conceding in the first minute.
“Three set-pieces, we didn’t defend well enough. Very frustrating. It shows in the end. To keep it at four or five would have been respectable, but to concede the last two was a bit of a gut punch.
“I’m proud of the players overall. It shows how ruthless the players are at this level and it’s something we can stride to.
“It’s a fantastic achievement what we did, the best FA Cup run [by Port Vale] since 1954. We beat a Premier League team and a Championship team in one week. We know our fate has probably been sealed to League Two and we have to come back fighting next year.”
