Chelsea vs. Brentford: Score and Reaction from 2017 FA Cup

Chelsea cruised into the FA Cup fifth round as they beat Brentford 4-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday thanks to goals from Willian, Pedro, Branislav Ivanovic and Michy Batshuayi. 

In a dominant first half against their fellow west Londoners, Chelsea put to bed any chance of an upset by Championship side Brentford as Willian netted a superb free-kick and Pedro finished a brilliant counter-attack.

The Bees were much better after the break in the fourth-round clash but could not pull one back, and Ivanovic and Batshuayi finished the job for manager Antonio Conte with goals in the final 21 minutes of action.

Both clubs provided their starting lineups ahead of kick-off:

It took only 14 minutes for Chelsea to get on the scoresheet after a slow start to the match.

Pedro was brought down on the right edge of the area, and Willian curled a brilliant free-kick into the top corner after a two-step run-up.

Per Opta, the Brazilian has lethal form from set pieces:

The hosts doubled their lead eight minutes later, and it was well deserved.

Chelsea moved from one end of the pitch to the other in a flash, with Batshuayi feeding Pedro on the right of the box with a slide-rule pass, and the former Barcelona man finished well with his left foot.

Even with three quarters of the match remaining, it looked a long way back for manager Dean Smith's Brentford.

They then survived two scares from Batshuayi, first a stretching effort that bounced on the line and then a rightly disallowed goal after excellent work from the offside Pedro. 

Brentford had their moments, with former Chelsea man Josh McEachran producing some excellent play and John Egan forcing a save with a late header, but the Blues were well worth their 2-0 lead at the break, per ESPN FC's Liam Twomey:

Brentford looked revitalised at the start of the second half as they looked to overturn the deficit, and Lasse Vibe forced Asmir Begovic into a save soon after the break.

Despite seeing more of the ball and showing better quality, though, they could not find the net, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek went close to adding a third for the Blues just before the hour when his clipped effort hit the crossbar.

Clive Mason/Getty Images

Nico Yennaris then forced Begovic into another save five minutes later having turned excellently in the box to find some space.

But, despite the Bees' best efforts, they looked vulnerable on the counter-attack and were dealt the knockout blow by Ivanovic in the 69th minute.

After Pedro carried the ball at speed from the halfway line, he slid the ball to the onrushing Serb, and the second-half substitute powered home a fine finish.

Nine minutes from time, Ivanovic then drew a foul in the area to win a penalty, and Batshuayi added sheen to the result with a cool finish into the corner.    

Post-Match Reaction

Conte expressed his delight at making it through to the next round and said the focus now shifted to Chelsea's key Premier League clash against Liverpool coming up on Tuesday, per beIN Sports (via BBC Sport's Tom Rostance and Gary Rose): "I am pleased and very happy for the commitment from my team. It is important to see that all the players in the squad and involved in the project. It was important to go to the next round and to think about the next game at Liverpool—a tough game."

Football writer Dan Levene provided comments from Bees manager Smith: "[I] thought we dropped deep at 2-0 and let them play in front of us and made it difficult [for] ourselves."