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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting breeze from the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have scored more but the opposition are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m very pleased with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from the fans of supporters. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this place dear to him, given part of his family are from Hull and his successful period in charge of the Championship club. His happy association was extended with a commanding display from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the league, there was a sniff of fragility about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The capacity Hull support clearly sensed it too, but the London side navigated the challenge perfectly.

The manager made alterations, making seven of them to his starting lineup. The tie could and maybe should have been settled earlier than it eventually was, with both Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap at fault for missing glorious chances to put their side in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, Pedro Neto was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous distance effort, which acted as the spark for Chelsea to take command of proceedings. By full time, they had four, with Neto scoring a trio of them for a superb three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

Hull displayed great fight all game, but the better chances always fell to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's clearance which came off the crossbar, and Delap started to celebrate believing the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had responded to avert the threat.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was immensely instrumental from that point onward, providing 3 assists. The first was for the opening goal as his pass set up his teammate to finish from outside the box. Six minutes after the restart, it was two as Neto's corner went directly in through the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after the second, the tie was put beyond doubt as a magnificent run from Delap teed up Estêvão to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap again played the crucial ball for the striker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their focus must now switch back to securing a return to the Premier League under their manager, who left out several first-choice individuals with that aim in mind.

"In my opinion we earned at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next games this can be a good example of how we should play."

There was great effort to the end, and they almost claimed a late goal when a substitute struck a the upright in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' night, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed head coach at a stadium he is familiar with very well.

Cup History Look Good

That resulted in an ultimately straightforward evening’s performance, and the FA Cup-shaped omens are positive from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three other times in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. Much remains to be work in that regard, but this was another huge positive for the Chelsea boss.