The Blues were made to work very hard.
Chelsea came from behind twice against Championship side Wrexham as they survived a huge FA Cup scare to progress to the quarter-finals with a 4-2 victory at The Racecourse Ground.
Liam Rosenior made nine changes from the side that claimed a hugely impressive 4-1 Premier League win at Aston Villa on Wednesday, and for long periods it looked as if that decision would backfire.
Sam Smith gave Wrexham an 18th-minute lead, and it was not until an unfortunate own goal from Arthur Okonkwo 22 minutes later that Chelsea levelled.
Callum Doyle seemingly had Wrexham on the cusp of the quarter-finals when the restored their lead 12 minutes from the end of normal time, only for Josh Acheampong to reply almost instanteously at the other end.
The game was turned heavily in Chelsea’s favour in stoppage time when George Dobson was sent off for a foul on Alejandro Garnacho, who then put Chelsea ahead in extra time as the extra man told.
Wrexham looked to have forced penalties when Lewis Brunt turned home at the far post with six minutes left in extra time, only for his close-range effort to be ruled out for offside.
Joao Pedro added scarcely deserved gloss in the final seconds, definitively settling a game in which Wrexham showed why they harbour hopes of promotion to the Premier League this season.
Wrexham run Chelsea extremely close
Smith sent the Racecourse Ground into raptures when he latched onto Doyle’s long ball, winning a footrace with Tosin Adarabioyo before slotting beyond the returning Robert Sanchez, who was once again at fault for a goal as he was caught out of position and unable to get a hand to a strike that lacked much in the way of venom.
Sanchez had to show impressive reflexes to turn a deflected effort from Ryan Longman over the bar, and Wrexham’s failure to double their lead was punished in extremely unfortunate circumstances.
Liam Delap did excellently to burst through the midfield and lay the ball off for Garnacho, whose strike was cleared off the line, only for the ball to ricochet off the back of Okonkwo and into the net.
Wrexham preserved parity until half-time, but Chelsea were improved in the early stages of the second half, Garnacho dragging wide before Jorrel Hato shot across the face of goal and narrowly wide of the far post.
Despite an uptick in the Chelsea performance, Wrexham looked within reach of a stunning upset after Doyle’s instinctive flick diverted Josh Windass’ drive beyond Sanchez.
Chelsea, though, restored parity for a second time in a hurry, Acheampong lashing home at the near post following excellent work from Andrey Santos.
Wrexham were undeterred, and Sanchez was scrambling after he repelled George Thomason’s shot only as far as Windass, whose follow-up header flew marginally wide.
Pedro Neto rattled the crossbar at the other end after being teed up by in-form substitute Pedro, with the Blues’ hopes then significantly boosted after referee Peter Bankes upgraded the intial yellow card given to Dobson for his rash challenge on Garnacho to a red following a pitchside VAR review.
Wrexham survived the remainder of stoppage time, but they could only hold out for five minutes of extra time, with Garnacho’s first-time finish from Dario Essugo’s fine ball to the far post giving Chelsea control.
The home fans erupted after Brunt bundled home from Kieffer Moore’s flick-on, but they were soon voicing their displeasure when VAR ruled he had strayed marginally offside.
Pedro’s individual goal put the game to bed, but that was greeted with the standing ovation Wrexham deserved as they exited the competition with enormous credit to their name.
