One of the special weekends of the football season is upon us, so ahead of the Blues beginning our latest cup quest, club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton look in depth at our Emirates FA Cup third round tie…
In its 150th anniversary year, the romance of the FA Cup is embodied by this round three tie, pitching European champions Chelsea against fellow Blues Chesterfield, who are top of the National League.
The Londoners have reached four of the past five finals in this competition, while the Spireites’ best showing was a semi-final showing in 1997. In fact, but for a goal against Middlesbrough that went unawarded they would have joined us in the final that year.
The Derbyshire club’s return to Stamford Bridge after a 71-year absence has inspired seven per cent of the ancient market town’s population to decamp south, adding to the pageantry of this famous old contest. They were the first football team – other than Chelsea – ever to win at the Bridge, in October 1905.
The visitors’ task this weekend is a daunting one, though, aiming to repeat what the likes of Wimbledon did at Burnley in 1975 and Altrincham at Birmingham in 1986 by being a non-league team winning on a top-flight ground in this competition.
Over the past decade, 63 of the 80 FA Cup quarter-finalists have come from the Premier League and only one from outside the Football League: Lincoln City in 2017. Chelsea last failed to progress from this stage in 1998, when Manchester United won 5-3 at the Bridge.
Chelsea team news
Injury and illness mean Thomas Tuchel is likely to draw on his extended squad including youngsters for this tie against the National League leaders.
Late positive Covid tests ruled N’Golo Kante and Thiago Silva out of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final, in which scorer Kai Havertz broke a finger and Cesar Azpilicueta cramped up.
A comfortable victory was secured nonetheless, and achieved with a change of system from 3-4-3 to 4-4-2 that left Tottenham outnumbered in midfield and outplayed everywhere.
The Bavarian may aim to rest key players ahead of Wednesday’s second leg and the showdown at Man City three days later. That may mean a debut for goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli, and run-outs for the likes of Ross Barkley, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Malang Sarr, Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech, and Saul, whose midweek performance was his best yet in royal blue.
This may well be a game for youth too, especially with five replacements allowed. The Carabao Cup quarter-final at Brentford notched up the 50th senior debut for an Academy graduate in the Roman Abramovich era, and Xavier Simons, Jude Soonsup-Bell, and Harvey Vale (who came off the bench on Wednesday) showed Thomas Tuchel they are ready to make the step up.Our Under-21s have already had a successful foray into men’s football this season in the EFL Trophy, emerging unbeaten from four group stage games away from home against teams from one or two tiers above Chesterfield. (The youngsters face their Arsenal counterparts in the first knockout round on Tuesday.)
Most FA Cups in history
Arsenal 14Manchester United 12Chelsea 8Tottenham 8Aston Villa 7Liverpool 7
Aspiring Spireites
Chesterfield are the only club in England’s top six tiers to have suffered just one league defeat this season, and they arrive on a run of 14 unbeaten. A 2-0 weekend defeat of King’s Lynn means they lead Halifax Town on goal difference at the apex of a competitive National League in which five points separate the top nine.
The Spireites were a League Two side until 2018 – three years shy of their Football League centenary. Their coach James Rowe, appointed in November, is under no illusion about taking on the champions of Europe.
‘We need to be a lot better with the ball, which I am sure we will be, on a better surface,’ he said. ‘It is a tricky surface out there [Chesterfield’s ground] at the moment. The Christmas period has not done the pitch any good.’
They beat League Two Salford 2-0 on their own patch to reach this stage of the competition with goals from Liam Mandeville and Jim Kellermann. Leading scorer Kabongo Tshimanga has struck 19 times.
Most of the Spireites’ team are technical players who play with energy and directness, and they will not be fazed by a low share of possession. Rowe uses a three centre-back system with wing-backs, two holding midfielders and one box-to-box, plus a deep-lying forward behind a main striker.
His side, who will don all-red on Saturday, have maintained pace at the top despite a spate of injuries, with former Villan Jack Clarke the latest to suffer a hamstring tweak last week. Fellow midfielder George Carline is also ruled out, along with forwards Danny Rowe and Tom Denton, and defender Hayden Hollis. Two other centre-backs, Luke Croll and Laurence Maguire, plus attacking midfielder Joe Rowley, are hoping to shake off problems.
Former Watford goalkeeper Scott Loach, 33, is one of the few in the Spireites’ squad with previous experience of Stamford Bridge. He faced Chelsea twice with the Hornets in this competition, losing 1-2 at Vicarage Road in February 2009 and 0-5 in west London the following January. He has managed 11 clean sheets this season.
On their most recent visit, 15 February 1950, Chesterfield were beaten 3-0, Roy Bentley bagging a brace.
How to watch Chelsea-Chesterfield
This match will be streamed live by the BBC in the UK, accessible through the BBC Sport website and iPlayer. To find out which broadcaster has the rights where you are, look here
Chelsea TV’s global available matchday shows – including early team news, exclusive interviews and analysis – are on this website and the 5th Stand app.
We have non-league history
This will be Chelsea’s 16th encounter with a non-Football League team, starting with the First Battalion Grenadier Guards team in 1905. That was the third-ever match for the Army side, who were unattached to any league at the time.
Chesterfield were in the Midland League when they ‘hosted’ the west Londoners in a 1911 tie (switched to Stamford Bridge), requiring David Calderhead’s team to change to claret shirts. Around 400 made the journey from Derbyshire but even Chelsea fans applauded the Spireites taking the lead. Fifteen minutes into the second half the Pensioners equalised from the spot, and scorer Bob Whittingham doubled his tally with a header 10 minutes later. A Jack Woodward brace completed the 4-1 victory.
The most recent clash was with Scarborough at the ‘Theatre of Chips’ in January 2004. Claudio Ranieri’s much-changed team laboured to a 1-0 win with the classic ‘grandstand finish’ of late chances for the hosts.
* switched to Stamford Bridge
FA Cup 2021/22 regulations
There will be no replays in this season’s competition. If a match is all-square after 90 minutes, extra time will be played and, if necessary, penalty kicks will decide the outcome. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system is in use for this game and all others hosted at Premier League stadiums. Five substitutes, drawn from a bench of nine, are allowed in three batches excluding half-time. Concussion replacements are also permitted.
For those clubs making it through, the round four draw will be broadcast on ITV after Sunday’s West Ham-Leeds clash, a 2pm kick-off.
Blues connections
London-born Chesterfield midfielder Manny Oyeleke, 29, a boyhood Blues fan and huge admirer of Gianfranco Zola, was with our Academy until the age of 14. He is not the only member of staff with royal blue in his veins.
The assistant manager of the National League table toppers is Daniel Webb, son of Chelsea’s 1970 FA Cup-winning hero Dave. Daniel attended games when his father, who will be at Saturday’s match, occupied the East Stand dugout as caretaker boss in 1993.
‘Stamford Bridge was different when I was nine,’ he said this week. ‘I can’t remember every moment but I do remember sitting there in the directors’ box and looking out thinking “this is a bit special”.’
InSpireing
In the early, pre-motorway days of away travel by coach it could take the best part of a day (or night) to reach stadiums in the north. One of the founders of the Chelsea Supporters (Away) Club, Peter Ralph, remembered a midnight start from the Britannia pub in the late-1940s. Before dawn, the driver briefly cranked to a halt and woke the coach, excited to point out a famous landmark en route. ‘Look!,’ he told bleary-eyed passengers, ‘the Crooked Spire of Chesterfield!’
FA Cup third round fixtures featuring Premier League sides
FridaySwindon v Man City 8pm (ITV1)
SaturdayBurnley v Huddersfield 12.30pmMillwall v Crystal Palace 12.45pm (ITV1)Leicester v Watford 3pmNewcastle v Cambridge 3pmPort Vale v Brentford 3pmWest Brom v Brighton 3pmChelsea v Chesterfield 5.30pm (BBC Red Button)Hull v Everton 5.30pm (BBC One)Swansea v Southampton 5.30pm (BBC Wales)
SundayCharlton v Norwich 2pmLiverpool v Shrewsbury 2pmTottenham v Morecambe 2pmWest Ham v Leeds 2pm (ITV1)Wolves v Sheffield United 2pmNottingham Forest v Arsenal 5.10pm (ITV1)
MondayMan United v Aston Villa 7.55pm (BBC One)