Raheem Sterling was restored to Chelsea’s assault and rewarded Graham Potter with a starring position in a 2-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb which noticed Ben Chilwell limp off late on.
Chilwell appeared to tug his hamstring chasing a ball in stoppage time and although he bought to his ft and performed the ultimate seconds of the match, the England defender needed to be carried throughout to the tunnel on the full-time whistle to boost questions over his health forward of the World Cup, which kicks off in lower than three weeks.
Sterling’s position in Chelsea’s 4-1 defeat at Brighton on Saturday was referred to as into query after Potter began him at wing-again, however again in his pure place he scored his first purpose for the membership since mid-September to cancel out Bruno Petkovic’s early opener – and he might have had a primary half hat-trick however missed two different possibilities.
With Chelsea solely enjoying for delight, however needing to shake off the reminiscence of that hammering on the south coast, they might not have gotten off to a worse begin when Cesar Azpilicueta’s miscued header teed up Petkovic to stoop and nod residence after seven minutes.
Dinamo had been enjoying for his or her European hopes – needing a win and beneficial outcomes elsewhere to qualify for the Europa League play-off spherical – however had been pegged again solely 11 minutes later, when Sterling latched onto Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s backheel and bent an equaliser contained in the far publish.
On the half-hour mark, Chelsea put themselves forward as a low ball from the appropriate discovered debutant Denis Zakaria, who marked his first look since becoming a member of the membership two months in the past with what would show to be the winner, a sensible close to-publish strike which crept contained in the close to publish.
Aubameyang hit the bar after half-time as Chelsea pushed for a cushion whereas Josip Sutalo was stored out by Edouard Mendy at full stretch, however a useless rubber for the hosts ended with a reassuring victory to finish their group-stage on a excessive forward of Monday’s final-16 draw.
More to comply with…
What’s subsequent?
Chelsea have three extra video games earlier than the World Cup break. They host Arsenal within the Premier League on Sunday; kick-off 12pm. They then journey to Man City within the Carabao Cup, dwell on Sky Sports; kick-off 8pm.
Chelsea’s closing Premier League recreation earlier than the match is on Saturday November 12 after they journey to Newcastle, dwell on Sky Sports; kick-off 5.30pm.
Dinamo Zagreb can even play three extra video games forward of the World Cup, twice within the league and one Croatian Cup fixture subsequent week.
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