It could have been so different. With two minutes left of added time, Plymouth Argyle were being eased out of the FA Cup by European Champions Chelsea. Then, Malang Sarr made a hash of Marcos Alonso’s pass. Ryan Hardie robbed him and sped towards goal, only to be felled by Sarr for the clearest of penalties. Hardie himself stepped up. He shot low, only for Kepa Arrizabalaga to save comfortably. Hardie hung his head. Chelsea were into the last 16.
“Ryan is a good penalty taker,” sighed visiting manager Steve Schumacher. “Normally he hits them quite well, I had confidence in him, but it was easy for the goalkeeper in the end. His head’s down at the moment, he’s gutted, he feels like he’s let everybody down, but he hasn’t. He’s got to pick himself up, move on and put it to bed. For all that, I’m so proud of everyone. I couldn’t say we deserved to go through, but this was a good day overall.”
“Kepa has the strength to save penalties,” purred Arno Michels, the Chelsea assistant head coach, standing in for Thomas Tuchel who tested positive for Covid on the morning of the game. Chelsea flew to Abu Dhabi for the much mocked Club World Cup after the match without him. .
Once Plymouth Argyle had taken the cheekiest of early leads, Chelsea attacked and attacked. Then they attacked some more. They equalised, they hit the woodwork three times and they were thwarted by both their own prodigal finishing and Plymouth defending so heroically, it could spawn a Marvel franchise.
After 90 minutes, 35 Chelsea attempts on goal and 18 Chelsea corners, the scores were still level. After 15 minutes extra time they were still level until first period of added time, when Timo Werner fed Kai Havertz, who crossed low for substitute Alonso to guide home.But there was still more drama to follow.
The gap of 48 places between the teams and an early morning start for 6,000 Devonians, strangers to Stamford Bridge since a 5-0 hammering in 1988, set more romantic hearts a flutter. Self-isolating, Tuchel selected his team to progress, swapping only Thiago Silva for Andreas Christensen from the team who brushed Tottenham Hotspur aside last Sunday.
