Nigerian strikers Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Moses showed up strong as West Ham avoided an FA Cup fifth-round upset with a 5-1 comeback victory at second-tier Blackburn yesterday. Ben Marshall put Blackburn ahead in just 25 minutes with a low, left-footed strike. But Moses leveled up just before the break after he made a solo run from the centre circle.
Dimitri Payet put West Ham ahead with a free kick from 25 yards (meters). Emmanuel Emenike then struck twice in the second half to make West Ham safe, before Payet got his second goal in stoppage time.
Chris Taylor was sent off for Blackburn and Cheikhou Kouyate for West Ham, both in the second half. Emenike who signed for the Hammers on loan was scoring for his the East Londoners for the first time, while Moses was scoring his first goal since September 19.
At Stamford Bridge, Second-half goals from Willian, Gary Cahill, Eden Hazard and Bertrand Traore gave Chelsea the edge over Manchester City. Two minutes after Diego Costa’s diving header from Hazard’s cross, teenager David Faupala – one of five players making their full debut in a vastly under-strength Manchester City side – equalised for the visitors.
But Willian struck two minutes into the second half, Cahill volleyed home after a mistake by Fernando, and Hazard curled in a free-kick to put the Blues in control. It meant a second successive domestic 5-1 victory for Chelsea and their third win by that score line in five matches – and Traore has netted in all three.
The FA Cup Sixth Round draw in full: Reading v Crystal Palace, Everton v Chelsea, Arsenal/Hull v Watford’Shrewsbury/Man Utd v West Ham. Vanguard
