Chelsea march on in FA Cup but £220m Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez outshone by Leeds starlet Archie Gray | OneFootball

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Conor Gallagher's 90th-minute winner spared Chelsea their blushes and a second 120-minute slog in the space of four days.

It might even have spared Mauricio Pochettino the sack.

Gallagher's strike to seal a 3-2 win over Leeds ensured Chelsea's season lives another day and leaves them one more home game against a Championship club — Leicester in the FA Cup quarter-finals — from a second visit to Wembley this season.

On the face of it, the lasp-gasp result was a positive response to Sunday's Carabao Cup Final defeat by Liverpool but it was far from convincing, and for most of the second half the pressure was mounting on Pochettino, who made five changes to his XI.

Chelsea went in at the interval 2-1 up through well-taken goals by Nicolas Jackson and Mykhailo Mydryk, but Leeds dominated the second period, restricting the Premier League side to intermittent counter-attacks either side of Mateo Joseph's second goal to make it 2-2.

Archie Gray dominated his £220m opponent pairing

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Leeds's midfield two of Ethan Ampadu, a Chelsea reject, and 17-year-old Archie Gray were superb. They outshone Chelsea pair Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, both of whom started again, despite completing 120 minutes against Liverpool and Pochettino's suggestion that his side were too fatigued to take advantage of Jurgen Klopp's kids in extra-time.

Given the circumstances, perhaps it is a bad time to question Caicedo and Fernandez, particularly as both finished last night's game with a vital assist. Fernandez drove forward and played in Gallagher at the death, while Caicedo's nice pass made the equaliser for Jackson.

Still, the way the duo struggled to impose themselves on a Championship side raised further questions about their place in Chelsea's project.

Pochettino once referred to Tottenham's Mousa Dembele as one of the "five geniuses" he had worked with — also including Diego Maradona, Ronaldinho, Jay-Jay Okocha and Ivan de la Pena — and how he would love to have a player like the Belgian now.

There is a growing understanding in this Chelsea team in the final third, demonstrated by their first-half goals last night — both slick moves well-finished inside the box by Jackson and Mydruk. But they frequently struggled to progress the ball into dangerous areas, a job which should primarily belong to their midfield two.

Just as against Liverpool, a number of Chelsea attacks either broke down in the face of the opposition press or petered out as Caicedo and Fernandez played safe.

Joseph's opening goal came when Caicedo was pressed into losing possession by Gray on the edge of Chelsea's box, although the Ecuadorian will feel he was sold short by Axel Disasi's pass.

Caicedo recovered well, setting up Jackson minutes later, and snapping into tackles. Fernandez also caught the eye with a couple of smart switches of play, although he was foolishly booked for dissent which rules him out of the quarter-final.

The bottom line, however, is that neither of Chelsea's expensive midfield two appears to have the range of progressive passing or the press-resistance required to excel for a Pochettino team, which will always play out from the back and pass through the thirds.

The result, for now, eases pressure on Mauricio Pochettino

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At Spurs, Pochettino was given the freedom to ruthlessly reshape his squad and he quickly bombed out a group of unsuitable players, including recent signing Etienne Capoue.

The Frenchman made way for Dembele, who was practically unpressable and had the quality to carry the ball into the final third.

Capoue, though, was a £9million signing and had three years left on his deal; Caicedo and Fernandez each cost around £110m and have seven-and-a-half years to run on their contracts.

There are no obvious indications that Pochettino wants to upgrade on the pair and perhaps another genius is too much to ask. The problem, though, is that Chelsea are stuck with many of their expensive assets.

In time, Romeo Lavia and Carney Chukwuemeka should give Pochettino more depth in midfield, with his squad likely to feel the strain when they go again at Brentford on Saturday. The Bees will press Chelsea like Liverpool and Leeds in the hope of exploiting tired legs and it will be another tough examination of Pochettino's side.