Soccer

Chelsea out on penalties, pressure mounts on Mourinho

Capital One Cup victories for Stoke City, Everton and Hull City – all on penalties

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho insists he does not need reassurances over his future after the English champions lose to Stoke City on penalties in the League Cup fourth round. Video: Reuters
Tue Oct 27 2015 - 22:54

Stoke City 1 Chelsea 1 (5-4 on penalties)

The pressure on Jose Mourinho intensified on Tuesday night after his Chelsea side were dumped out of the Capital One Cup on penalties by 10-man Stoke.

The beleaguered boss, looking for some respite from his team's awful form in the Barclays Premier League, found only more misery as Eden Hazard's spot-kick was saved by Jack Butland following a 1-1 draw, giving Stoke a 5-4 shoot-out success.

The defeat was Chelsea’s fourth in their last six games in all competitions and will turn up the heat yet further on the under-fire Portuguese manager.

The holders looked set to lose in 90 minutes as Jonathan Walters’ 52nd-minute goal, a fine shot on the turn from the edge of the area, put the Potters in front.

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But Loic Remy, on for the injured Diego Costa before half-time, fired home in injury-time when the ball broke to him following a corner, and Stoke lost Phil Bardsley to a second yellow card shortly after.

But the hosts held on for penalties and after nine successful attempts Butland denied Hazard to send Stoke into the quarter-finals.

Everton 1 Norwich 1 (4-3 on penalties)

Everton reached the Capital One Cup quarter-finals after keeping their cool in the penalty shoot-out to advance past Norwich.

The two sides could not be separated after 120 minutes in a 1-1 draw, but the Toffees converted all four of their penalties while Joel Robles saved from Wes Hoolahan and Nathan Redmond shot over when needing to score as Everton progressed 4-3.

Sebastien Bassong’s first goal since December 2012 had given Norwich a 51st-minute lead that was cancelled out by Everton captain Leon Osman’s equaliser 17 minutes later.

Robles then made a fantastic save from Lewis Grabban in the final minute of normal time before helping the hosts gain the upper hand in the shoot-out by denying Hoolahan.

Hull City 1 Leicester City 1 (5-4 on penalties)

Hull were also successful on penalties, knocking out Leicester 5-4 after a 1-1 draw.

Riyad Mahrez failed with the first attempt of the shoot-out, having earlier put the Foxes in front 10 minutes into extra-time — a goal that was soon matched by Hull's Abel Hernandez.