The difference in the end was made by the money of Chelsea. Confirmation that Roman Abramovich will sell the Blues came around an hour before the start of a match in which Luton Town threatened to show them how far they could fall without their owner's financial clout.
The Championship side took the lead twice, first through a second-minute goal by Reece Burke and then again after Saul Niguez's goal as Harry Cornick raced clear to slot a cool finish past Kepa Arrizabalaga. The game swung in the favour of the Blues in the second half, thanks to the substitution of Christian Pulisic, Harvey Vale, and Reece James, as well as the goal by Timo Werner, who was set up by Romelu Lukaku.
The club-record transfer fees paid to Werner and Lukaku will rank as the final act in the lavish spending that has totalled more than 2 billion dollars since Roman Abramovich took over.
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They are impervious to FA Cup shocks because of their wealth. In the last 19 years, only two times have they lost to lower-league opposition in this competition: a 4-2 defeat to League One Bradford City in 2015 and a 4-3 defeat to Championship side Barnsley in 2008.
The majority of the 10,140 fans inside the stadium chanted "You're getting sold in the morning" as they made their way to the stadium.
The blurring of sport and politics was brought into sharper focus by the ownership of Abramovich.
The timing and haste of his decision to sell comes amid widespread condemnation of the Kremlin and anyone associated as their invasion of Ukraine reaches ever ghastlier proportions. The flags on the corners were changed to the Ukrainian flag with bigger versions dotted around the crowd and the away support was greeted with boos or worse.
The Luton fans sang "You dirty Russian bastard, you dirty Russian bastard, you dirty Russian bastard, you dirty Russian bastard, you dirty Russian bastard, you dirty Russian bastard, you dirty Russian bastard, you dirty Russian bastard, you dirty Russian bastard
The good news for coach Thomas Tuchel is that this would be the sort of performance that would raise questions about his future given the history of firing managers. He faced another inquisition about his employer's future.
It is too early for me to speak about it. This is a huge change for me, it did not sink in yet.
We focused in our preparation only on sports but maybe some players are more affected than others and in the end we managed to focus more and grow into the game before finding the key to win it.
I don't think I need to discuss it with the players. I am not the CEO. I am not a member of the board and I am sure the club will speak to us and the players. I am pretty sure a member of the board will talk to us to clarify the situation.
They lost their defensive stability without intelligence in possession, because Ruben Loftus-Cheek started in an experimental position at centre-back. In helping turn the tide, Loftus-Cheek played a superb raking pass for Werner to equalise.
As they continue to have one eye on a promotion push from the Championship, they made several changes of their own, as well as having greater resources and fitness told. He was signed at great expense to settle more important occasions than this, but sentimental fans of the club want his money to be stretched even further.