Chelsea Dominate Barrow 5-0: Player Ratings as Blues Cruise into Carabao Cup Fourth Round

Chelsea breezed to a routine 5-0 win over Barrow to book their place in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.

The League Two outfit were simply no match for Enzo Maresca's side, who roared into an early 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Christopher Nkunku. An own goal had Chelsea 3-0 up at the break.

Pedro Neto tapped home just moments after the restart, before Nkunku completed his hat-trick to cap off a perfect evening.

Chelsea made 11 changes to their starting lineup but Enzo Maresca still went strong and kept all his academy players on the bench, and the Blues were 1-0 ahead after just eight minutes. Felix's brilliant scooped pass looped over the entire Barrow defence and found Nkunku, who timed his run perfectly and controlled his volley into the back of the net.

The second came seven minutes later as Malo Gusto's low cross again found Nkunku for a delightful flick beyond Paul Farman in the Barrow goal.

Felix contributed to a third shortly before the half-hour mark. The Portugal international bent a free-kick over the wall and on to the inside of the post, but the ricochet ended up in the back of the net after striking the back of the helpless Farman.

The momentum of the game continued into the second half and Neto tapped home an electric counter just two minutes after the restart following a smart cross from Mykhailo Mudryk.

Farman had to scramble across to stop an awkward volley from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, and the Barrow stopper got down well to deny Axel Disasi twice soon after.

Barrow had some nice moments when the clock ticked on but found clear-cut chances incredibly hard to come by, and they were fortunate not to fall further behind when Tyrique George sliced wide from close range.

Chelsea's wait for a fifth did not last much longer. With 15 minutes to go, Nkunku sealed his hat-trick as he pounced on a mistake from Farman and tapped home into an empty goal.

To their credit, Barrow did not lie down, with substitute Katia Kouyate standing out in particular, but there was never really any genuine threat on the Chelsea goal and the Blues saw out their win in comfortable fashion.