Christopher Nkunku grabs chance as Chelsea’s £400m ‘B’ team pop Barrow’s balloon

Such is the scale of the investment in the Chelsea squad that Enzo Maresca can make 11 changes to his team and still name a side that cost around £400 million. This was surely the most expensive ‘B’ team in history and, to the surprise of no one at Stamford Bridge, it was considerably stronger than lowly Barrow, of League Two.

Chelsea’s frontline alone cost almost £250 million, and all four of those players approached this League Cup tie as an opportunity to remind Maresca of their quality. Pedro Neto, Joao Felix, Christopher Nkunku and Mykhailo Mudryk are not currently regarded as Premier League starters, so this was their chance to impress. That was bad news for Barrow.

There was also an opportunity, at last, for a player who appeared to have no future at Chelsea: Ben Chilwell. The England left-back was exiled during the transfer window but, with no move materialising, he has been reinstated within Maresca’s first-team squad.

Chilwell’s arrival as a half-time substitute prompted one of the biggest cheers of the night, although only time will tell whether this was a one-off or a sign of things to come.

In truth, it was not a night for full-backs such as Chilwell. This was all about Chelsea’s forwards, with each of the starting four either scoring or creating a goal. Nkunku, especially, moved with a purpose and menace that troubled Barrow from the start. He ended the night with a hat-trick.

Barrow’s build-up to this game included the unusual and awkward situation, exclusively revealed by Telegraph Sport, regarding the club’s bonus structure: the players had been offered a bigger bonus for losing this match than winning it. Amid concerns over the integrity of the competition, Barrow sources insisted these errors had been corrected.

Barrow arrived at Stamford Bridge on good form, as the early leaders of League Two, but also with a realistic sense of what might be possible against such formidable opposition.

Speaking to the BBC before the game, sporting director Iain Wood said: “We did our analyst stuff yesterday and the names on the board we just looked at and went: ‘what are we going to do here?’”

The answer, as it turned out, was that they could not do very much. Nkunku had the ball in Barrow’s net after just eight minutes, converting Felix’s wonderful chipped pass, and Chelsea were off and running from there.

The second came just seven minutes later, with Nkunku again finding the net. This time, with a delicate flick from Malo Gusto’s low cross. Felix then forced the third by curling a free-kick against the post, and then watching as it bounced into the net off Barrow goalkeeper Paul Farman. Not only outclassed, Barrow – managed by former Premier League midfielder Stephen Clemence – were also unlucky.

Not even half an hour had passed at this point and the feeling within the ground was that Chelsea could score as many as they wanted. Their fourth came a few minutes after the break, when Neto struck his first Chelsea goal after Mudryk had darted behind the Barrow defence.

To Barrow’s credit, they enjoyed a brief spell of dominance midway through the second half, and even went close to a spectacular goal through Kian Spence, before Nkunku swiftly put them back in their place.

For reasons unknown, Farman attempted to dribble past the Frenchman in his own area. Nkunku calmly removed the ball from his possession before rolling it into the empty net. It was the ultimate demonstration of Chelsea’s dominance on the night, and the final act of Nkunku before he was substituted.

Chelsea vs Barrow: As it happened . . .

10:27 PM BST

Guardiola on Rodri’s injury

10:13 PM BST

Villa’s Buendia reacts

10:09 PM BST

Carabao Cup fourth round draw

Man City, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Leicester join Brentford, Brighton & Hove Albion, Crystal Palace, Manchester United, Preston North End, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Stoke City and Tottenham Hotspur in Wednesday’s draw.

The draw will take place after Liverpool vs West Ham tomorrow.

09:54 PM BST

FT: Wycombe 1 Aston Villa 2

Villa progress but they didn’t have it all their own way which is a credit to the home side.

09:53 PM BST

94mins: Wycombe 1 Aston Villa 2 - GOAL

Just a consolation for the home side but they deserve it. Kone uses his strength in the box and powers a shot into the goal.

09:48 PM BST

FT: Walsall 0 Leicester 0 (0-3 pens)

Relief for the away side as keeper Ward is the hero with three saves to deny Walsall.

09:44 PM BST

84mins: Wycombe 0 Aston Villa 2 - GOAL

Game over and another goal for Duran. The Villa striker goes down and the referee points to the spot. The Colombia international picks himself back up and slots home easily.

Wycombe will be frustrated when they see the replays as it looks like Duran tripped himself up.

09:41 PM BST

FT: Walsall 0 Leicester 0

Penalty shoot-out at the Bescot coming up after there was nothing to separate the teams.

09:38 PM BST

FT: Man City 2 Watford 1

Lates pressure from the away side but City see out the threat to book their place in the fourth round.

09:36 PM BST

FT: Chelsea 5 Barrow 0

All over at Stamford Bridge. A comfortable night’s work for Maresca’s side.

09:34 PM BST

75mins: Wycombe 0 Aston Villa 1

A flurry of changes from Chairboys boss Matt Bloomfield in a bid to turn the screw on Villa. The home side are still in this.

09:33 PM BST

90mins: Walsall 0 Leicester 0

Into stoppage time at the Bescot. Can anyone stop the game going to penalties?

09:30 PM BST

86mins: Man City 2 Watford 1 - GOAL

Game on at the Etihad as Ince, who moments ago cleared off his own line, pulls a goal back for his side with a lovely curling finish from just outside the box.

09:27 PM BST

83mins: Walsall 0 Leicester 0

No goals at the Bescot but we’ve had an intruder on the pitch

09:20 PM BST

75mins: Chelsea 5 Barrow 0 - GOAL

Having just praised Barrow a few moments ago, it is my sad duty to inform you that their goalkeeper has just produced a clanger. For reasons unknown, Farman attempted to dribble around Nkunku in his own box. Needless to say, Nkunku now has a hat-trick.

09:17 PM BST

‘Barrow are still giving it a good go’

Barrow are still giving it a good go here, and I don’t mean that to be as patronising as it sounds. They are enjoying a good spell and are pushing for a goal in front of their travelling fans.

Kian Spence almost scored with a spectacular free-kick, before a goalmouth scramble tested the reactions of Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen.

09:14 PM BST

55mins: Wycombe 0 Aston Villa 1 - GOAL

Deadlock broken at Adams Park and what a moment from Buendia. Young’s cross into the box is deflected into the air by a Wycombe defender and the ball arrives on the playmaker’s head and he guides it into the far corner.

09:11 PM BST

51mins: Wycombe 0 Aston Villa 0

No changes at the break from either manager but it’s League One Wycombe being a nuisance at the moment.

09:07 PM BST

62mins: Man City 2 Watford 0

City can’t believe they haven’t scored. Nunes has a shot saved, Lewis’ shot is blocked then Ince clears from the line after a Savinho shot had beaten Bond.

08:58 PM BST

49mins: Walsall 0 Leicester 0

Big chance for Walsall squadered. Lowe picks up a loose back pass from Leicester and cuts the ball to Adomah in the six yard box.

It’s on his left foot but his effort is weak and the ball bobbles harmlessly wide.

A let off for the away side.

08:55 PM BST

47mins: Chelsea 4 Barrow 0 - GOAL

We’re back underway at Chelsea and Pedro Neto has his first goal for the club converting Mykhailo Mudryk’s low cross, as the home side extend their lead to four. All four of Chelsea’s attackers have now been involved in goals tonight.

08:53 PM BST

‘Chilwell is back’

Ben Chilwell is back on the pitch at Stamford Bridge. His exile is officially over. During the transfer window it looked as if his Chelsea career was over forever, but here he is, having failed to find a move elsewhere. This is his first appearance of the season. Will it be his last...?

08:49 PM BST

HT: Wycombe 0 Aston Villa 0

Villa’s travelling support are in party mode. Virtually every song rattling out from the away end is referencing their Champions League campaign.

The drums are banging in the home Beechdean Terrace as Villa’s attacks are being easily thwarted by the League One side.

08:40 PM BST

HALF TIME

The whistle has blown at City, Chelsea and Walsall. City and Chelsea look well on course for the fourth round but Leicester have work to do in the second half.

08:26 PM BST

25mins: Wycombe 0 Aston Villa 0

Never mind Arsenal, Adams Park could have been renamed the Ministry of Dark Arts during former boss Gareth Ainsworth’s ten-year tenure. Just the three fouls so far tonight, however.

Are Wycombe being too nice?

08:25 PM BST

34mins: Walsall 0 Leicester 0

Still goalless at the Bescot Stadium but Walsall have been the better side. Edouard has had Leicester’s first shot of the evening but his speculative effort from distance was comfortably over the bar.

08:23 PM BST

38mins: Man City 2 Watford 0 GOAL

Lewis plays a one-two with McAtee, lays it off to Nunes and the Portugal midfielder drills a shot into the bottom corner.

08:16 PM BST

28mins: Chelsea 3 Barrow 0 - GOAL

Joao Felix has curled in a free-kick against Barrow. It might go down as an own goal by Barrow goalkeeper Paul Farman, as the ball bounced off the post and then struck him as he dived. A difficult night for Barrow becomes even harder.

08:09 PM BST

9mins: Wycombe 0 Aston Villa 0

Goal machine Jhon Duran spurned a gilt-edged chance for the visitors after just 35 seconds.

Villa fans will forgive the Colombia striker for that though, after his four goals in five Premier League games so far.

Brilliant to see Argentine playmaker Emi Buendia back on the grass. The Villa favourite has not started a competitive game since May last year, following a devastating knee injury. He’s got the skipper’s armband on tonight, too.

08:08 PM BST

20mins: Man City 1 Watford 0

Baah thinks he has equalised for the away side after barging his way into the City box and firing past Ortega. But the referee blows his whistle for a foul on Braithwaite.

08:02 PM BST

15mins: Chelsea 2 Barrow 0 - GOAL

Sadly for Barrow, the scoreline tonight could be as big as Chelsea want it to be. We’re 17 minutes in and it’s already 2-0, with Nkunku converting his second with a flicked finish from Gusto’s cross. Barrow have nowhere to go and nothing they can do. Just enjoy the occasion, lads.

07:54 PM BST

8mins: Chelsea 1 Barrow 0 - GOAL

Chelsea have taken the lead with their first attack of the game, thanks primarily to a beautiful chipped pass by Joao Felix. He took out the entire Barrow defence, allowing Christopher Nkunku to convert on the volley.

Barrow had actually begun the night impressively, winning their tackles and getting the ball into the Chelsea box. But it already feels like a long way back.

07:52 PM BST

5mins: Man City 1 Watford 0 - GOAL

Porteous plays a short back pass to Bond, McAtee closes the keeper down and nicks the ball. He plays it to Grealish, who then finds Doku just inside the box and the wide man fires into the bottom corner.

Ruthless start by the Premier League champions.

07:49 PM BST

‘Kyle Walker is at centre-back’

Braithwaite, wearing No 61, is playing at left-back and Kyle Walker is at centre-back alongside John Stones.

07:47 PM BST

KICK OFF

We are up and running in our three 7.45pm matches.

Wycombe vs Aston Villa gets underway at 8pm.

07:39 PM BST

Pre-match thoughts from Unai Emery

07:32 PM BST

Tributes to be paid to Craig Shakespeare at the Bescot

07:25 PM BST

‘Starting front four worth around £240 million’

Barrow have had a good start to this season, and are currently top of League Two, but it would be fair to say they have not faced a frontline of the same quality that Chelsea are deploying tonight. Not by a long way.

The starting front four for the home side is as follows: Pedro Neto, Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk and Christopher Nkunku. That’s around £240 million worth of players.

07:22 PM BST

Team news from the Adams Park

Wycombe vs Aston Villa

Wycombe: Ravizzoli; Hartridge, Skura, Low, Pattenden; Wheeler, Scowen; Bakinson, Sadlier, Butcher; Lubala 
Subs: George, Grimmer, Harvie, McCarthy, Leahy, Humphreys, Kone, McCleary, Onyedinma
Aston Villa: Gauci, Nedeljkovic, Bogarde, Swinkels, Maatsen, Onana, Barkley, Bailey, Young, Buendia, Duran.
Subs: Zych, Carlos, Ramsey, Rowe, Borland, Jimoh-Aloba, Patterson, Moore, Broggio.

07:08 PM BST

Team news from the Bescot Stadium

Walsall vs Leicester

Walsall: Simkin, Okagbue, Williams, Weir, Liam Gordon, Adomah, Stirk, Lakin, Connor Barrett, Lowe, Maher.
Subs: Hornby, Daniels, Matt, Comley, Hall, Allen, Jellis, Johnson, Browne.
Leicester: Ward, Ricardo Pereira, Coady, Okoli, Thomas, Soumare, Choudhury, Fatawu, Buonanotte, De Cordova-Reid, Edouard.
Subs: Iversen, Justin, Faes, Skipp, Golding, El Khannous, McAteer, Alves, Ayew.
Referee: Tom Nield (West Yorkshire)

07:04 PM BST

Team news from the Etihad

Manchester City vs Watford line-ups

Man City: Ortega, Walker, Stones, Braithwaite, Lewis, McAtee, O’Reilly, Matheus Luiz, Grealish, Foden, Doku.
Subs: Ederson, Dias, Kovacic, Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Gvardiol, Akanji, Savio, Wright.
Watford: Bond, Ogbonna, Porteous, Morris, Larouci, Ince, Louza, Sema, Baah, Ebosele, Bayo.
Subs: Marriott, Pollock, Chakvetadze, Vata, Dwomoh, Tikvic, Doumbia, Dele-Bashiru, Adu-Poku.
Referee: David Webb (County Durham)

06:57 PM BST

Team news from Stamford Bridge

Chelsea v Barrow line-ups

Chelsea: Jorgensen, Gusto, Disasi, Badiashile, Veiga, Casadei, Dewsbury-Hall, Pedro Neto, Joao Felix, Mudryk, Nkunku.
Subs: Bettinelli, Colwill, Chilwell, Acheampong, Chukwuemeka, Fernandez, George, Washington, Guiu.
Barrow: Farman, Feely, Vassell, Stokes, Jackson, Campbell, Foley, Newby, Spence, Acquah, Garner.
Subs: Stanway, Canavan, Tiensia, Eccleston, Worrall, Kouyate, Dallas, Weston, Telford.
Referee: Oliver Langford (W Midlands)

06:56 PM BST

Foden to start for Manchester City

Phil Foden is starting for Manchester City tonight, his first start of the season and first since the Euro final in the summer. Pep Guardiola also starts 16-year-old centre-back Kaden Braithwaite, who plays for England Under-17s.

06:35 PM BST

League Cup third-round clockwatch

Hello and welcome to third round coverage from the League Cup as the Premier League sides playing in Europe begin their campaigns.

Tom Cleverley has told his Watford team to play with no fear when they head to Manchester City this evening.

The Championship side go to the Etihad on the back of a 4-1 league defeat at Norwich City on Saturday but Cleverley has called on his players to rise to the occasion.

“It’s the first major test of our character and there’s no bigger test than Man City away,” Cleverley said.

“I’ve enjoyed the preparation for this game because it completely wipes the memory of Norwich very quickly.

“You like to think that our players will up their levels, because of where we’re going and because of how intense we need to be, and how focused and disciplined we need to be without the ball.

“I think it’s the kind of test we need right now to show that yes, we can show character without the ball, and we do have that structured discipline that we were so good at around the end of last season. We’ve lost our way a little bit on that in the last two games.”

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery admits the League Cup is at the bottom of his priorities this season which could open the door for League One side Wycombe to cause an upset.
Emery’s men are juggling the Premier League and Champions League this season and that is where the Spaniard concedes his focus is on.

He said: “It is clear the priority is the Premier League, 38 matches, through it we have to get our first objective - try and be in the top seven and be consistent in playing in Europe. That is the most difficult way through the Premier League.

“The second most difficult is the Champions League and then we have to try to find something important in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup. The FA Cup is maybe more important than the Carabao Cup, but the Carabao Cup is a trophy and we are going to compete.

“Of course I am going to change some players but I am going to prepare a plan to win and to get a good way in this competition in case we can get through three matches and get an opportunity to fight for a trophy through it.”

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca plans to rotate his squad for the visit of an in-form Barrow, who sit 64 places lower in the football pyramid.

The Italian urged his fringe players to make the most of the opportunity.

“They are players that train every day very good but unfortunately I cannot give them chances,” he said.

“All the players that are not getting so many chances, tomorrow is a good chance for them to get minutes and to hopefully win a game.”

Leicester boss Steve Cooper insists he will field an “experienced and strong” team for their clash with Walsall.

A 4-0 second-round victory over League Two side Tranmere in August remains their only win of the season so far.

Leicester are winless from their first five Premier League games and will be aiming to gather some momentum against the Saddlers.

But Cooper, who may have one eye on Saturday’s Premier League match away to Arsenal, said: “It’s a game we want to win.

“It’s a game where the team we put out will be an experienced and strong one.

“Whether we decide to make changes or go with players who play in the league, it will be an experienced team and a game we want to win.”