CHELSEA WARMED UP for the EFL Cup final with a comfortable 3-0 home victory over Malmo to secure a place in the Europa League’s last 16, winning 5-1 on aggregate.
Olivier Giroud and Ross Barkley, who were both on target in establishing a a 2-1 first-leg advantage in Sweden seven days ago, grabbed second-half goals before Callum Hudson-Odoi marked his recall with the third.
Maurizio Sarri will still head into this weekend’s daunting match against Manchester City with doubts hanging over his long-term future, a situation that was helped little by a sluggish first half.
But a sharper showing after the restart – and Rasmus Bengtsson’s sending off for two yellow cards - led to three goals in 29 minutes and averted further pressure from building on the under-fire Italian.
Sarri’s seven changes failed to stave off the early sloppiness, with Markus Rosenberg scuffing a left-footed effort past the right-hand post in the 13th minute.
Cesar Azpilicueta turned a low cross from Willian into goalkeeper Johan Dahlin at close range but an otherwise subdued first half invited a smattering of boos at the break.
The home side clicked into gear 10 minutes after the interval. N’Golo Kante led a counter-attack and slipped a pass to Willian, who squared for Giroud to tap home.
Any hope Malmo had of mounting an unlikely comeback quickly disappeared when the dismissal of Bengtsson was followed 60 seconds later by Barkley’s brilliant free-kick, the midfielder classily bending the ball up and over the wall.
That paved the way for teenager Hudson-Odoi – a Bayern Munich transfer target throughout January - to further enhance his claims for a regular starting spot with an unerring low finish into the bottom-left corner in the 84th minute that wrapped up the serene 5-1 aggregate success.
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So we have 3 Pro14 games first, then the 2 Champions Cup game in January. Even if Sexton and Kelleher come good Farrel will more than likely have them for the Six Nations. And 10 or more others. Nice to have the Q final boxed off in the cup already and an 8point buffer in the league. Not too shabby so far. COYBIB.
@David: shame on me, turned out to be 17 others for the initial Farrel picks.
Real blow for Ronan with his rich form this short to 6 nations. But hopefully gets back up to these levels of consistency quickly. Hopefully a bit of game time for Ciara’s and Harry with Ross over the Christmas period will help them on.
I wouldn’t be surprised if his specialist was based on Lyon.
@Ken: already confirmed that he’s turned down the offer