Chelsea cruise into Champions League knock-out stages with Willian brace helping sink Qarabag

Chelsea book their place in the last 16 of the Champions League after an easy night in Azerbaijan.

Full-time: Qarabag 0-4 Chelsea

Three minutes of time added on here.

Azpilicueta has been moving slightly gingerly since receiving a kick a few minutes ago. Maybe a slight concern for Antonio Conte on what has been an otherwise perfect evening.

Willian has been wonderful tonight and he springs Morata through with another sumptuous defence-splitting pass. The Spaniard slows it down as he gets into the box and tries to cut inside his man before can't get past the defender.

Make that four for Chelsea. Willian caps his 200th appearance for the Blues with a fine strike, bursting past his man on the edge of the D before lashing a crisp strike past Sehic into the corner of the net. Easy.

Goal! Qarabag 0-4 Chelsea (Willian, 84)

Cesc Fabregas' penalty has made it three for Chelsea. They are cruising into the last 16.

Pedro frees Zappacosta down the right with a superb through ball perfectly into the Italian's feet. Morata is all on his own in the box waiting for the cutback but hos teammate's ball is pretty dreadful and is easily cut out.

Here's Chelsea's final change of the game with Danny Drinkwater onto replace Kante.

With Hazard off the pitch, Fabregas steps up to lash one into the top corner. But the referee orders a retake with Zappacosta judged to have rushed into the box before it was taken. No matter, the Spaniard instead slides it into the bottom corner on the retake to make it three.

Goal! Qarabag 0-3 Chelsea (Cesf Fabregas, 72)

Another penalty! A loose touch from Qarayev invites Willian to nick possession on the edge of the box with the Qarabag defender pulling on the Brazilian's shirt as he breaks into the box. The home side again feel aggrieved, but the referee points to the spot.

PENALTY - Chelsea

Morata now has it in the back of the net, but it won't count. Willian this time produces a superb ball, threading one across the pitch to find Azpilicueta's run into the box from the left. He unselfishly prods the ball across goal for his countryman to tap home but the defender has already been flagged for offisde.

Morata passes up a wonderful chance to make it three! Rudiger produces a wonderful pass to free the Spaniard, taking three players out of the game to leave his teammate with only the goalkeeper to beat inside the box. He takes a touch and looks to place it in the far corner but to veers the wrong side of the post.

Morata is almost slipped in straight away by Pedro but Garayev makes a timely sliding challenge to knock the ball out for a corner.

That will be Hazard's last action of the evening; Alvaro Morata is onto replace him for the final 25 minutes of this match.

Hazard denied a second! It's excellent work from Kante who finds himself on the edge of the box, sliding a cute reverse pass into Hazard who cuts inside, opening his body up to shoot for the far corner. Sehic denies him however, springing across goal to impressively bat the ball away.

Chelsea by the way have made their first change of the night with Gary Cahill onto replace Alonso. Azpilicueta has shifted out to play at left wing-back with Cahill taking his role in the backline.

Chelsea can do whatever they like at the moment; comfortably popping the ball off up and down the pitch. Qarabag seem satisfied in sitting back to absorb it, maybe fearing another hammering after what happened at Stamford Bridge in Stamford Bridge.

Rudiger wins the ball high up the pitch from Michel, moving it onto Willian in the final third but play is brought back with the Roma defender judged to have fouled the Spaniard.

Chelsea almost in for a third! Pedro brilliantly controls a ball into the box from Fabregas but Sehic is out quickly to block his effort on goal. The ball breaks kindly to Willian who has pounced on the rebound but Medvedev gets there first to knock it away? But did he use his arm? Play continues anyway and Qarabag clear.

Fabregas curls it straight into Sehic's waiting arms, however.

Willian is slipped through down the right by Rudiger and the Brazilian wins his side's first corner of the second-half.

How long will Eden Hazard remain on the pitch, then? With Liverpool waiting on Saturday, you would imagine Antonio Conte would be keen to wrap him up on bubble wrap alongside Alvaro Morata as soon as possible.

And Chelsea get us back underway for the second-half.

Barring an almighty collapse, Chelsea will book their place in the last 16 of the Champions League tonight. Goals from Eden Hazard and Willian have them well on their way to achieving that and for a 10-man Qarabag, they still have a long night ahead of them.

Half-time: Qarabag 0-2 Chelsea

On his 200th appearance for Chelsea, Willian is on the score sheet.

What a run from Pedro! The Spaniard bursts forward from well inside his own half, riding a series of challenges that aren't an attempt to win the ball, but more to completely clean him out. He looses his footing as he breaks into the box and the referee rightfully pulls play back for a free kick.

Rzeźniczak, the man who put in that last challenge is booked, but Willian bends the resulting free kick well wide.

Sensational second from Chelsea. Fabregas chips a ball upfield to Pedro who looks inside for Willian. He bursts into the box, finding Hazard who returns the ball to his teammate via a wonderful backheel that takes two defenders out of the game. With the ball back at his feet, Willian makes no mistake, slotting past Sehic to cap a wonderful move.

Goal! Qarabag 0-2 Chelsea (Willian, 36)

10 minutes of the first-half remaining.

A slip from Kante on the edge of his own box allows Michel to nick possession and launch a decent ball upfield for Ndlovu to chase onto. Rudiger reads it well however and scampers across to clear the danger.

Azpilicueta drifts out to the right and curls a superb cross into the centre forward for the evening in Hazard. The Belgian connects with a header but can't get any direction on it and it is an easy catch for Sehic.

This is the third consecutive Champions League match Qarabag have had a man sent off in. At least they are used to it.

The moment that changed this game? Rashad Sadygov's straight red card saw Eden Hazard convert from the spot.

Qarabag might feel slightly hard done by there; there was minimal contact but Sadygov was judged to have denied a clear goal scoring opportunity.

Easy from Eden Hazard, he runs up, pauses and coolly sends the goalkeeper the wrong way.

Goal! Qarabag 0-1 Chelsea (EDEN Hazard, 21)

Oh dear. 35-year-old Rashad Sadygov is caught the wrong side of Willian as the Brazilian breaks into the box. The veteran is judged to have hauled back the Chelsea attacker and he is shown a straight red card.

RED CARD - Rashad Sadygov (Qarabag)

PENALTY - Chelsea

Qarabag try their luck on the counter with Ndlovu bursting through down the right with Alonso nowhere to be found but David Luiz does well to usher him off the ball.

Another effort on goal from Willian is blocked - this time by his own man with Eden Hazard getting in the way.

Fabregas almost threads a ball through for Willian who has made an intelligent run across his man and into the box but Sadygov makes a fine recovery, sliding across to block his low effort on goal.

Qarabag hit the woodwork! Michel delays playing a ball out on the right, waiting for a supporting run down that flank before exchanging passes with a slight deflection feeding the ball back into his path as he breaks into the box. He lashes an effort on goal, beating Courtois but it comes back off the underside of the bar.

The ball breaks out to Almeida but he is unable to hook the rebound on target.

Chelsea win the first corner of the game with Zappacosta challenging for a header at the near post with the last touch coming off a Qarabag player. Fabregas swings the resulting corner in but Luiz can't get any purchase on his header and sends it over.

Half a glimpse at goal for Qarabag as Madatov capitalises on a mix up between Zappacosta and Fabregas, opening up space for him to shoot but Azpilicueta slides across to make an immaculate block.

Chelsea move the ball nicely upfield with Luiz finding Fabregas who frees Pedro down the right channel. Be cuts a ball across the six yard area but Willian is the only Chelsea player in the box and ball rolls harmlessly away from danger.

Pedro tries to set Willian free down the inside right channel but Michel is over quickly to usher the ball away. Moments later, the Brazilian's attempted pass back to the Spaniard is accidentally knocked into the path of Fabregas who has a sight on goal for a split second, but fires his effort straight at Sehic,

The home side are enjoying an early spell of possession in these opening few minutes; not putting Chelsea under much pressure, mind.

And the home side get us underway.

We're minutes from kick-off, here's one last look at how Chelsea will line up tonight.

Chelsea team to face Qarabag: Courtois; Azpilicueta (c), David Luiz, Rudiger; Zappacosta, Kante, Fabregas, Alonso; Willian, Hazard, Pedro

Subs: Caballero, Cahill, Christensen, Sterling, Drinkwater, Bakayoko, Morata

Chelsea have just finished their final warm-ups. Kick-off is just over minutes away.

And on David Luiz returning to the starting XI...

Antonio Conte on the decision to leave Alvaro Morata on the bench tonight

Here's how Chelsea's opposition lines up tonight.

In case your Azerbaijan isn't up to scratch, that starting XI is: Sehic, Garayev, Medvedev, Michel, Ndlovu, Madatov, Sadygov, Almeida, Agolli, Rzezniczak, Guerrier

A reminder of what Chelsea need to do tonight; three points will guarantee them qualification for the knockout stages while a draw will be good enough if Atletico Madrid do not beat Roma later tonight.

The battle for who tops the group is likely to go down to the final round of fixtures, with Roma leading the Blues by a point ahead of kick-off.

Chelsea rested a string of first-team players when these two met back in September at Stamford Bridge. On what we saw from Qarabag that night, an Under-15s team may have been able to get the job done.

Davide Zappacosta was among the goal scorers on his Chelsea debut that night and he is back in the starting XI this evening.

Also among the subs tonight is Dujon Sterling. The 18-year-old wing-back was given a 14-minute run out in the Carabao Cup victory over Nottingham Forest back in September – his senior debut for the Blues.

In case you are wondering why Ethan Ampadu is not among the subs; he has already played today, helping Chelsea's Under-19 side come from a goal behind to beat the Qarabag counterparts in the Uefa Youth League.

Antonio Conte has changed his system today. Just days after praising the effectiveness of a tweaked 3-5-2 formation that has seen Eden Hazard pushed up to play almost alongside Alvaro Morata, the Italian has reverted back to his usual 3-4-3 - the foundation of last season's title winning success.

As is now par for the course during Champions League pre-match press conferences, Antonio Conte took the opportunity this week to lament the hectic fixture schedules afflicting Premier League sides around this time of the year - with a trip to Liverpool on Saturday at the forefront of his mind.

It hasn't prevented the Italian from naming a fairly strong starting XI this evening, however, with Alvaro Morata the only major absentee this evening.

Antonio Conte makes three changes to the side that thrashed West Brom last Saturday and it looks as if he has tweaked his system ever so slightly, reverting back to a 3-4-3 formation. Alvaro Morata drops to the bench and it looks like Eden Hazard will be deployed up front, flanked either side by Willian and Pedro.

Cesc Fabregas and N'Golo Kante keep their places in midfield with Tiemoue Bakayoko dropping to the bench while David Luiz and Antonio Rudiger come back into the backline.

Davide Zappacosta retains his place on the right with Victor Moses still absent.

Chelsea team to face Qarabag: Courtois; Azpilicueta (c), David Luiz, Rudiger; Zappacosta, Kante, Fabregas, Alonso; Willian, Hazard, Pedro

Subs: Caballero, Cahill, Christensen, Sterling, Drinkwater, Bakayoko, Morata

BREAKING: David Luiz returns to the Chelsea first-team, Alvaro Morata drops to the bench.

Team news: Qarabag

The home side will make a late call on the availability of Dani Quintana this evening with Pedro Henrique missing out through suspension.

"We still have time, and a doctor will make a decision about him," Qarabag boss Gurban Gurbanov said of Quintana on Tuesday. "At the moment, unfortunately, I can not say if Quintana will play tomorrow."

Against Manchester United and West Brom, Andreas Christensen was named in the Chelsea XI ahead of David Luiz. The Blues kept clean sheets in both of those contests. Is the Dane now a first-choice option? Proof of that may come tonight if he is rested tonight for Saturday's clash against Liverpool.

Conte said this week: "I think Christensen is playing very well but we have to play a lot of games, and we have to play every three days.

"We need all the players and to have different solutions [is good] - last season in this position I didn't have this opportunity."

Team news: Chelsea

Conte will rotate his team tonight but some of the players who would have benefited from that plan are unavailable. Michy Batshuayi (ankle) and Charly Musonda (knee) remain out while Kenedy is struggling with a muscular injury.

Team news: Chelsea

Victor Moses remains out for Chelsea this evening. The Nigeria international has not played since October due to a hamstring problem but has returned to training, although tonight comes too soon for his inclusion. Antonio Conte hopes to have him available for Saturday's trip to Anfield.

There's nothing like a 5000-mile round trip to get a manager enthused for a Champions League tie. Chelsea have made the journey to Azerbaijan for this evening's clash still needing to confirm their place in the knockout stages of this competition but with a trip to Liverpool looming on Saturday, Antonio Conte has been a bit miffed with the whole arrangement.

It could give him the chance to rotate his squad however with David Luiz hoping to force his way back into contention after being replaced in recent weeks by Andreas Christiansen.

Qarabag provided one of the most dismal performances of this season's Champions League campaign in the reverse fixture back in September, conceding six at Stamford Bridge. But draws home and away to Atletico Madrid have kept their campaign alive, with a Europa League spot still to fight for.

All your team news is on its way shortly.