Chelsea ease into fourth round with 5-0 thrashing of Morecambe

Chelsea booked their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday as doubles from Tosin Adarabioyo and João Félix and a single strike from Christopher Nkunku helped them ease past League Two side Morecambe with a 5-0 win at Stamford Bridge.

The home side were in the ascendency throughout and could have won even more handsomely, if not for Nkunku's missed penalty in the 17th minute.

"It was a good afternoon in terms of we won, which is important, and the performance in these types of games is about showing how serious and professional you are and once again the players showed that," Enzo Maresca said.

Maresca made several changes to his side with Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernández and Nicolas Jackson all named on the bench.

The Italian did hand a place in his starting XI to 18-year-old attacker Tyrique George, while Reece James and Romeo Lavia made their first starts since recovering from their respective injury issues.

Chelsea were on the front foot from the start and came close to taking the lead when Adarabioyo headed Pedro Neto's cross off the bar in the 14th minute. 

The home side were thwarted again three minutes later when Nkuku saw his penalty -- that had been awarded for a handball by Morecambe midfielder Yann Songo'o -- saved by Harry Burgoyne. 

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But Burgoyne's save turned out to be a temporary reprieve for the fourth tier side as former Fulham man Adarabioyo saw a shot deflect into the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area. 

Having made one change at the break with Marc Cucurella replacing Lavia, Chelsea were quick out the blocks at the start of the second half. Nkuku made up for his earlier penalty miss five minutes after the interval with a left-footed finish into the bottom right corner of Burgoyne's goal.

Adarabioyo netted his second goal of the game when he hit a fine strike into the top right corner after being found in space by George on the edge of the area.

Asked about George's performance, Maresca said: "Tyrique was good. Tyrique is doing well for us. He has already played some games for us in the Conference League. He is the same age as Josh Acheampong so is very young but hopefully we can give them more chances and they can become an important part of this team."

Adarabioyo's second served to break Morecambe's earlier resolve and the home side helped themselves to two more goals within the next seven minutes.

First, João Félix rounded off a swift counter-attack with a smart finish into the bottom corner, before the Portugal international doubled his tally with a curling effort beyond the desperate reach of Burgoyne.

Chelsea will find out their fourth-round opponents when the draw is made at around 5 p.m. GMT (12 p.m. ET) on Sunday.