Chelsea's FA Cup third round clash with Charlton Athletic was temporarily paused
Matty Hewitt Football Writer
20:19, 10 Jan 2026Updated 20:31, 10 Jan 2026
Charlton vs Chelsea was forced to be stopped due to a medical emergency
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Charlton vs Chelsea was forced to be stopped due to a medical emergency(Image: )
Chelsea's FA Cup third round clash with Charlton Athletic was stopped due to a medical emergency in the crowd after just ten minutes.
An announcement in the ground at the Valley said: "There is a medical emergency in the crowd. We thank you for your patience."
Play was paused for around five minutes as the home supporter was treat by the emergency services and wheleled out on a stretcher.
Teams from both sides knocked the ball around while the fan was given treatment, with play eventually restarting in the 16th minute.
Liam Rosenior's side made a bright start to the game as he took charge of his side for the first time in the technical area after taking over from Enzo Maresca last week.
The 41-year-old named a strong starting XI for the clash with the Championship side with Moises Caicedo and Alejandro Garnacho starting the game, though did make several changes from the defeat at Fulham.
The new boss was asked about the Blues best chance of winning a trophy this season, and Rosenior said: "Try and win every game that you play. That's the reality.
"If you start pinpointing and saying one competition is more important than the other, that's crazy. You have to compete every day in training.
"You have to try and win it every time you train. You have to try and win every game that you play. And if you think too far ahead, that's when you fall.
"So for me, the focus is Charlton and trying to put a run together of results that puts it in a really good place. But I'm not thinking too far ahead. We just have to focus on the here and now."
Chelsea are now 18 points adrift of league leaders Arsenal, but are still in the Champions League and in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, where they'll face Arsenal in the first of a double header next week.
Chelsea may have won just one of their last nine games, but Rosenior is hopeful of turning that poor run around.
When asked about that run, he said: "That's an incredible run. It's a tough run. It's a tough league. And we're not the only club that's going to go through a difficult period of the season.
"Every club does. Top teams, of which we are top clubs, go through different spells and different periods in the season. Hopefully, I can add my own ideas, my own stamp, my own voice. Sometimes a different voice helps.
"But the players haven't been far away. Manchester City was an outstanding performance. Second half, could have gone on to win the game.
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"Against Fulham, we were down to 10 men for 70 minutes. We're in the game, in a really, really difficult place to go. We're not far away. And that's really, really important for the players to know."