Result: Barnsley 0-1 Chelsea
Date: 11 February 2021
Venue: Oakwell
Chelsea booked their spot in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup with a 1-0 victory over Championship side Barnsley on Thursday evening.
The Blues boss Thomas Tuchel made wholesale changes, with only Andreas Christensen remaining from the side that edged Sheffield United.
Barnsley almost took an early lead in the 11th minute after Callum Brittain latched onto a flick on inside the six-yard box but he was denied by shot-stopper Kepa Arrizabalaga from point-blank range.
The visitors had a strong penalty appeal in the 19th minute after Toby Sibbick caught Tammy Abraham's ankle, but the referee was not persuaded to award the spot-kick, with the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) not in operation.
The Championship side were giving as much as they got after the half-hour mark and they came close to breaking the deadlock on the stroke of half-time after Brittain received a cut-back from a clever short corner but his strike came off his teammate Victor Adeboyejo and missed wide.
The game was still open in the early exchanges of the second stanza, as Callum Hudson-Odoi came close to breaking the deadlock for Chelsea two minutes before the hour-mark with a powerful strike that missed the bottom corner by a whisker.
Abraham finally put Tuchel's men ahead in the 64th minute with a close-range tap-in after Reece James some good work by Reece James down the right flank.
Barnsley came close to snatching the equaliser in the last 12 minutes after Kepa fumbled a free-kick on the path of Michael Sollbauer inside the box but his effort was headed off the line by Abraham, as Chelsea held on to claim a narrow win to secure progression to the last eight.
Everton v Manchester City
Bournemouth v Southampton
Leicester City v Manchester United
Chelsea v Sheffield United
