It was everything an FA Cup tie should be, as six goals were scored, one player was sent off and a Premier League side received a huge scare, requiring villainous technology to save them from a likely penalty shootout. The only thing missing was an upset but Chelsea will not mind triumphing against Wrexham in a classic of the genre.
Full time: Wrexham 2-4 Chelsea
Chelsea are through but they were given quite a scare by Wrexham, who are applauded off the field by their famous co-owners and the rest of the home crowd. Wrexham led twice in normal time – and even after being reduced to ten men they were millimetres away from equalising in extra-time. It was a terrific FA Cup tie.
Updated
GOAL! Wrexham 2-4 Chelsea (Joao Pedro 120+4)
The in-form Joao Pedro finishes the job with a strong run from the halfway line and a low shot from 16 yards. He’s had quite a week.
Updated
120+1 min: So close from O’Brien! A cutback from the right breaks invitingly to O’Brien on the edge of the area. He curls a left-foot shot that beats Sanchez and flashes just wide of the far post. My word, ten-man Wrexham have been quite brilliant in the second period of extra-time.
Updated
120 min Five added minutes.
119 min Moore is penalised for a challenge on Cucurella, then gives him a mouthful for making the most of it (his opinion, etc). Badiashile comes across and goes head to head with Moore. When the dust settles, Moore is booked, as is Garnacho for waving an imaginary card.
Updated
117 min “Is the hot tub getting cold?” asks Peter Oh “It’s squishy bum time, as they say.”
Having never set tremulous foot in a hot tub, I have nothing to add to this discussion.
116 min There are some suggestions that Moore’s header would have gone in without Brunt’s touch, but I think it would have hit the outside of the post and rebounded away from goal. Either way, in the moment Brunt had to go for it.
NO GOAL! Wrexham 2-3 Chelsea
Brunt was just offside when Moore headed the ball across goal, and the dreaded lines were not in Wrexham’s favour. Hollywood 0-1 VAR.
The corner was flicked across goal by Moore and headed in front from about a yard by Brunt. But it’s being checked by VAR for offside! I think Brunt is slightly off.
Updated
GOAL! Wrexham 3-3 Chelsea (Brunt 114)
This is officially ridiculous.
113 min: Chance for Wrexham! Thomason stands up a fantastic cross on the turn towards Moore at the far post. He meets it with a towering header that hits the back of Tosin and deflects behind for a corner. From which…
Updated
112 min: Wrexham substitution Davis Keillor-Dunn comes on for Max Cleworth.
111 min And then Windass whips the free-kick high over the bar. Gah.
110 min Andrey Santos is booked for dissent before the free-kick is taken.
109 min A rare Wrexham attack leads to a free-kick on the edge of the D when Moore is taken out off the ball by Gusto. This is a chance. Mickey Thomas’s famous free-kick against Arsenal wasn’t a million miles from this spot.
Updated
106 min Wrexham bring on Lewis Brunt for the excellent, and very tired, Callum Doyle.
Half time in extra time: Wrexham 2-3 Chelsea
Alejandro Garnacho’s volley has put Chelsea ahead for the first time in this game. They are a man up, too, and should finish the job from here. Should.
105+3 min Garnacho’s free-kick is touched over by Okonkwo. It was probably going over anyway but he took no chances.
105 min That one break aside, Wrexham have had little of the ball in the Chelsea half since they went down to 10 men.
101 min Barnett’s low cross just evades Moore at the near post. Chelsea break and Thomason wipes out Derry, elicing an angry reaction from the Chelsea players. Thomason is booked.
100 min: Chelsea substitution The promising Jesse Derry replaces Pedro Neto.
99 min This would be a big ask for Wrexham if it was 11 v 11, never mind 10 v 11. They look really tired now.
Neto lays the ball off to Essugo, whose excellent first-time cross is volleyed crisply into the net by Garnacho. At first it looked like he might have been offside but it wasn’t even close, and Garnacho finished expertly.
Updated
GOAL! Wrexham 2-3 Chelsea (Garnacho 96)
It had to come.
95 min Garnacho’s cross deflects to Guiu, whose snapshot is crucially blocked by Doyle in the six-yard box.
93 min Essugo shoots wide from the edge of the area. Chelsea have started on the front foot as you’d expect.
92 min “I’m away with friends in North Wales for a few days, about 9 miles from Wrexham,” says Matt Dony. “We’re waiting for this game to finish to get in the hot tub. The Chelsea equaliser was not welcome. And, don’t worry, several doubles have been poured.”
The what tub?
91 min Play resumes with Wrexham having made another substitution: Ryan Barnett is on for Ryan Longman.
Full time: Wrexham 2-2 Chelsea
A ding-dong FA Cup tie is heading to extra-time. Chelsea have twice come from behind and have a man advantage after George Dobson was sent off late on.
90+7 min Suddenly Wrexham break dangerously. Broadhead’s cross is cut out, then Cleworth hits a sizzler from 25 yards that is saved by Sanchez. A comfortable save but a helluva strike.
Updated
90+6 min Chelsea are trying to get this done before extra time. It’s been one-way traffic since the red card.
90+3 min There are a minimum of six added minutes by the way. I suspect that will be nearer eight or nine because of the red card.
90+2 min: Dobson is sent off!
Yep, the referee has been sent to the monitor. The tackle was a bit of a shocker, studs into the side of the leg just below the knee, and it doesn’t take Peter Bankes long to upgrade the yellow card to a red.
Updated
90 min Dobson is booked for a very cynical challenge on Garnacho. Chelsea aren’t happy and there’s a suggestion it might be upgraded to a red.
Updated
88 min: Neto hits the bar!
Garnacho charges down the left and slides a careful low cross towards Neto. He runs onto the ball, 15 yards from goal, and whacks it off the crossbar!
86 min Now Kieffer Moore drags a shot across goal and wide from a tight angle. I’m not sure this game will reach extra-time; both teams look threatening every time they attack.
85 min: Chelsea substitution Joao Pedro and Malo Gusto replace Liam Delap and Josh Acheampong.
84 min This is turning into a thriller. Thomason gets away on the left side of the area and hits a low cross-shot that is beaten away by Sanchez. It bounces up to Windass, who heads the loose ball wide from 15 yards. That was a good chance because Sanchez was on all fours.
Dobson lost the ball 30 yards from his own goal to Andrey Santos, whose deflected pass ran past the wrongfooted Thomason and into the path of Acheampong. He finished emphatically into the roof of the net. Teenage defenders really shouldn’t be finishing like Gerd Muller.
Updated
GOAL! Wrexham 2-2 Chelsea (Acheampong 82)
Josh Acheampong equalises almost straight away!
80 min “Bonsoir Rob,” says Kimberley Thonger. “I should just like to offer encouragement to Messrs Windass & Rathbone, they should open a gentlemen’s outfitters in Wrexham when they retire. With a name like that above the door they cannot fail. Dandies and hipsters will flock from all over England and Wales to purchase their three piece suits and blazers and slacks and I feel sure that Mr Reynolds and Mr McElhenney will model for them on their catwalk. It’s their destiny!”
After making the first goal, Callum Doyle has scored the second to put Wrehxam within sight of a famous victory. Dobson’s corner was headed away to the edge of the D, where Windass rifled a low drive into the crowd. It reached Doyle, who flicked it nonchalantly behind his standing leg and into the net. That’s a brilliant finish!
Updated
GOAL! Wrexham 2-1 Chelsea (Doyle 79)
Who writes Callum Doyle’s scripts?
76 min: Wrexham substitution Nathan Broadhead comes on for the quietly impressive Zak Vyner.
74 min Pedro Neto goes outside Thomason and drives a rising cross-shot that hits the side netting. Okonkwo had it covered.
72 min Garnacho flashes a curler from the left edge of the area. It’s too straight and Okonkwo makes a comfortable save.
71 min Guiu’s heartfelt long-range shot takes a big deflection and spins behind for a corner. Both teams are really going for this.
66 min: Double substitution for Wrexham Ollie Rathbone and the goalscorer Sam Smith are replaced by Kieffer Moore and Josh Windass. Pour Matt Dony a double.
65 min: Double substitution for Chelsea Marc Cucurella and Dario Essugo replace Jorrel Hato, who has been excellent, and Romeo Lavia. He looked a bit rusty after so long out.
63 min A stinging long-range drive from Neto is blocked by Dobson. There’s a cracking pace to this game now. Moments later Hato sweeps a loose ball the ball just wide of the far post, though I think he might have been offside.
Updated
61 min Dobson’s corner is half cleared to Thomason, whose long-range shot is deflected behind for another corner. That leads to a big Wrexham appeal for handball and a penalty when a snapshot is blocked. Nothing given.
60 min Sanchez plays a dodgy short pass to Lavia, who is sacked on the edge of the D. The ball breaks to Vyner, whose low shot is kicked away. That was half a chance for Wrexham.
59 min A Wrexham free-kick ricochets around the Chelsea area before eventually being cleared. It almost broke for Doyle in a shooting position but he couldn’t control an awkward ball.
57 min: Chelsea substitution Marc Guiu replaces Mamadou Sarr, an attacking chance that presumably means a switch to a back four.
55 min Garnacho runs at Hyam on the left of the area because driving a cross-shot wide of the far post. Support was arriving but hadn’t quite got there and Garnacho was caught in two minds.
54 min I’m sure you’re aware by now, but there are no replays in the FA Cup fifth round so this will be settled tonight, via extra-time and penalties if necessary.
51 min At the other end, Acheampong’s shot on the turn from 15 yards is headed away by Doyle.
Updated
50 min Cleworth’s cross is met on the run by O’Brien, whose sidefoot volley hits a defender and bounces through to Sanchez.
49 min A Wrexham corner is cleared as far as Longman on the right. His cross is headed over from 12 yards by Cleworth, a very tough chance.
46 min Peep peep! They’re back under way.
Half-time reading
Half time: Wrexham 1-1 Chelsea
All square at Cae Ras. It was a hard-fought first half, with few chances at either end. Sam Smith finished well to put Wrexham ahead before Chelsea equalised through an unfortunate own goal from Arthur Okonkwo.
45+2 min “Nah,” says Mark Hooper, “this is classic Hollywood scriptwriter stuff - you need the setback before ramping up the action again for a blockbuster ending.”
You know who had an arc? Noah.
45+1 min Acheampong’s low cross is sliced behind for a corner by Doyle. That leads to another corner, which is curled in by Neto and flapped away awkwardly under pressure by Okonkwo. Wrexham need half-time.
44 min Chelsea will feel calmer after the equaliser, though there is still plenty of work to do in the second half.
41 min Somewhere in Hollywood, a scriptwriter has just been sacked.
Delap did brilliantly to receive a driven pass from Sanchez, roll his man, rumble forward and find Garnacho in space on the left side of the area. Garnacho’s shot beat the diving Okonkwo and was cleared off the line by Thomason – but his clearance hit the back of Okonkwo and ricocheted into the net.
Updated
GOAL! Wrexham 1-1 Chelsea (Okonkwo 40 og)
Chelsea are level through a freakish own goal!
39 min Sam Smith’s goal is the only shot on target at either end. Never mind romance; Wrexham’s performance so far has been a triumph of pragmatism.
37 min Doyle marauds forward in open play and has a shot deflected behind for a corner. There’s a long way to go but Liam Rosenior may be starting to wonder if he took too many risks with his team selection – not just the starting XI as the absence of Palmer, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo on the bench.
35 min This is a good spell for Wrexham, perhaps their best of the match. Chelsea are showing one of two signs of irritation.
33 min Longman’s cross deflects off Badiashile and is pawed over the bar by Sanchez. A comfortable save despite the understandable oohs and aahs.
32 min Chelsea’s options from the bench include Joao Pedro, Reece James, Marc Guii and Malo Gusto, though not Cole Palmer.
31 min Okonkwo is quickly off his line to dive bravely at the feet of Hato, who was running onto a speculative through ball.
29 min Smith gets behind the Chelsea defence again, this time in the inside-left channel. He chops back inside Tosin to create a shooting chance, only to lose his footing at the crucial moment. That was a scare for Chelsea.
Updated
28 min “With one substitution, we could see Windass up against Delap,” writes Matt Dony. “And the fact that it isn’t Dean against Rory makes us all feel old and have to confront our own mortality. Time marches on, making fools of us all. All things tend toward entropy. Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. I’m going to pour a whiskey.”
I thought I was the only one who remembered Good Friday 2000.
27 min Neto’s deep cross arrives at an awkward height for Garnacho, who miscues a volley back towards Neto. I think he was going for goal but it was a very tricky chance.
Updated
26 min Chelsea have had loads of the ball but their passing has been on the slow, safe side.
24 min Sanchez has to push Cleworth’s shot over the bar following a clever set-piece. He was offside, so it wouldn’t have counted.
23 min Vyner slips Lavia, who pulls him back in frustration and is booked.
22 min “Back when Welcome to Wrexham premiered,” begins Kári Tulinius, “I watched the first episode and was sure the series would sink without a trace, and at best would be the subject of an article twenty years later about the crazy time these Hollywood stars bought a non-league club. Shows what I know.”
Hey, not even Grant Tinker got everything right when it came to TV.
21 min That’ll change the mood. The VAR check, incidentally, was soundtracked by a heartfelt chorus of “Eff VAR!” from the home fans.
Sam Smith has put Wrexham ahead with a really good finish. Chelsea held a very high line, on the halfway line, and were beaten by one pass. Doyle, on the edge of his own penalty area, curled a terrific long ball over the Chelsea defence to put Smith through on goal. He controlled the ball deftly on the run, held off the recovering defenders and slid an early finish past Sanchez from the edge of the area.
There’s a VAR check for offside – but the goal stands.
Updated
GOAL! Wrexham 1-0 Chelsea (Smith 18)
Scratch that: Wrexham have scored from one of those counter-attacks!
15 min Chelsea are slowly taking control of the game, limiting Wrexham to the odd counter-attack and, so far at least, no set-pieces.
11 min Neto, who looks sharp, zips infield dangerously before Dobson makes an important challenge on the edge of the D.
9 min There’s a short break in play so that Chelsea defender Mamadou Sarr can break Ramadan fast.
7 min Chelsea look happy to move the ball around and take the sting out of the atmosphere. Wrexham aren’t seeing much of the ball but haven’t been troubled defensively.
4 min A pretty quiet start to the game, at least on the field. The Wrexham fans are still making a very decent noise.
2 min A heavy touch from Longman allows Delap to lead a Chelsea break. He finds Garnacho, whose low cross towards Pedro Neto is cut out.
1 min Chelsea kick off from right to left as we watch. Both started have started with a back three.
Updated
The players are ready to begin at the Racecourse Ground. We’re about to find out who wrote today’s script.
“Do you think,” begins Andrew Goudie, “we might have to get used to watching Wrexham play Chelsea regularly?”
Big time.
In some ways, history is repeating itself. In 1982, Chelsea and Wrexham met in the FA Cup after they had beaten Hull and Nottingham Forest respectively in previous rounds. The same has happened in 2026; but this is where the similarities end.
When the clubs met 44 years ago they were in the second tier and had huge debts. With Chelsea reportedly £1.6m in the red, the future of Stamford Bridge was in doubt as property developers hovered. Relegation-threatened Wrexham spent most of the 1980s merely trying to survive.
On top of inconsistent league form and financial woe, Chelsea also had problems with their supporters. After trouble at Derby in November 1981, the FA banned Chelsea fans from away matches. However, policing the ban proved almost impossible. Chelsea fans continued to travel and make their way into the home ends of various grounds. The ban was lifted after a few months and the episode did little for the club’s reputation.
Team news
The Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson makes three changes to the team that beat Charlton a week ago. Ryan Longman, Zak Vyner and Sam Smith come in for Issa Kabore, Nathan Broadhead and Kieffer Moore.
With Chelsea playing Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, Liam Rosenior has made nine changes to the XI that started at Villa Park in midweek. Jorrel Hato and Alejandro Garnacho are the survivors.
Wrexham (possible 3-4-2-1) Okonkwo; Cleworth, Hyam, Doyle; Longman, Dobson, Vyner, Thomason; Rathbone, O’Brien; Smith.
Subs: Ward, Scarr, Brunt, Barnett, Keillor-Dunn, Windass, Broadhead, Rodriguez, Moore.
Chelsea (possible 3-4-2-1) Sanchez; Tosin, Badiashile, Sarr; Acheampong, Lavia, Andrey Santos, Hato; Neto, Garnacho; Delap.
Subs: Sharman-Lowe, James, Gusto, Chalobah, Cucurella, Essugo, Derry, Joao Pedro, Guiu.
Updated
“It’s just surreal,” says the former Wrexham midfielder Mickey Thomas, scorer of arguably the club’s most famous goal. When he helped strike down Arsenal, the reigning English champions, in the FA Cup third round in 1992, he could not have expected 34 years later to be regularly rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s biggest stars, regaling them with the story of how he smashed a free‑kick past David Seaman.
In recent years, Wrexham have welcomed a glittering array of famous Hollywood guests to Cae Ras, thanks to Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac, who often invite Thomas to the owners’ box. The north Walian town has become a hotbed for famous faces, all given the warmest welcome by a club enjoying a meteoric rise.
Channing Tatum, Hugh Jackman, Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd have made the trip across the Atlantic to witness how Reynolds and Mac have transformed this corner of Wales. They, however, are not as big a draw as Premier League Chelsea, who visit in the Cup fifth round on Saturday. Wrexham, occupants of a Championship playoff spot, have the capabilities to take their second top-flight scalp of a season that could end with a fourth consecutive promotion.
Preamble
The last time Wrexham met Chelsea, in the old Division Two 44 years ago, Frank Carrodus scored the only goal to give the bottom club Wrexham an unlikely victory. The match was watched by 3,935 people at the Racecourse Ground; Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty were not among their number. The most exotic names in the stadium that day were probably Chelsea winger Peter Rhoades-Brown and Wrexham keeper Eddie Niedzwecki.
Times change, football changes and tonight the two teams will meet in a Hollywood-adjacent blockbuster: it’s being shown live on two different channels in the UK alone. It’s Wrexham’s biggest game since Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the club six years ago, a chance to take a major scalp and reach their first FA Cup quarter-final since 1997.
The script is written, an unashamedly cheesy one at that, but Chelsea plan to make a few last-minute edits.
Kick off 5.45pm.
