Chelsea progressed to the fourth round of the FA Cup after a comfortable 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge.
First-half goals from Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ross Barkley were enough for Frank Lampard’s side to reach the next stage.
Forest did have chances though and saw a first-half penalty overturned by VAR while the offside flag denied Ryan Yates giving them a lifeline.
Chelsea made nine changes to the side that were held at Brighton in the Premier League.
The likes of Michy Batshuayi, Hudson-Odoi and Barkley were all given starts. Reece James and Jorginho, who captained the side in that draw at the Amex, were the only two to hold onto their spot.
Sabri Lamouchi gave an indication of his preference to Forest’s ongoing Sky Bet Championship promotion campaign with a number of first-team starters left out altogether.
Chelsea didn’t have to wait long for the first goal of the contest.
A neat attacking move through the Forest half led to Pedro finding Hudson-Odoi unmarked in the area. He cut inside and made no mistake in finding the near corner past a helpless Jordan Smith.
The hosts then came close to a second less than 15 minutes later.
Lampard’s side broke forward with pace from a Forest corner and Pedro unleashed an effort from the edge of the area. To Forest’s relief, Batshuayi was in the way to deny what appeared to be a certain goal.
VAR isn’t used in the Championship and Forest will likely be grateful for that when they saw a penalty chalked off with 20 minutes played.
Alex Mighten was brought down by Fikayo Tomori and after several looks at the incident, the Forest man was ruled to be offside in the build-up despite there appearing to be little in it.
Chelsea did grab their second with just over half an hour on the clock.
In similar fashion, Hudson-Odoi cut inside from the right and while his shot was saved this time, it was deflected into the path of Barkley to knock in from close range.
The second-half started with little incident. Joao Carvalho registered Forest’s first effort on target with a weak effort and the visitors enjoyed a better share of the possession.
They were reminded of the calibre of their opposition though when Barkley struck the post with a header just before the hour mark.
Forest did have the ball in the back of the net as the game approached the final 20 minutes. Ryan Yates’ header from Joao Carvalho’s cross was flagged for offside; a call supported by the VAR check afterwards.
The final exchanges passed with little incident, putting Lampard’s side into the hat for Monday’s fourth round draw.
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