Our 3️⃣ points as Chelsea do just enough in Malmö win | OneFootball

Chelsea are on course to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages after a hard-fought victory over Malmö on Tuesday.

Here are three points we took from the game …

Opportunity knocks

Chelsea named a relatively strong side for what looked on paper an easy enough task for them. In addition to a number of regular starters, the Blues included Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Hakim Ziyech, and Callum Hudson-Odoi at the Eleda Stadium.

The trio have failed to become regular starters under Thomas Tuchel, but were given the chance to impress their manager in European action.

Loftus-Cheek showed plenty of energy in the first half, getting into the penalty area on a number of occasions as the visitors camped in opposition territory.

Hudson-Odoi and Ziyech produced the goods early in the second half, with the former supplying the latter with a magnificent assist to finally break Malmö’s stubborn resistance.

Loftus-Cheek was the only one to last the full 90 minutes, but all three can be reasonably happy with their night’s work in Scandavia.

Back for good?

There would have been a huge sigh of relief from Chelsea fans when they saw Christian Pulisic replace Hudson-Odoi in the 74th minute.

It was the USA international’s first appearance since being forced off on the first day of the league season against Crystal Palace.

And there would have been even greater relief if the attacker could have gotten on the scoresheet when he found himself through on goal with just goalkeeper Johan Dahlin to beat on the stroke of full time.

That he fluffed the chance isn’t all that surprising given his long lay-off.

More important from his and the club’s perspective is the hope that ‘Captain America’ can finally put behind him the fitness issues that have dogged his time at Stamford Bridge.

Out of their league

It was always the most likely eventuality, but their fourth straight defeat means Malmö now have no chance of making it to the Round of 16.

Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side did magnificently to even reach the group stages, navigating four rounds of qualifying to earn their place at the top table.

The Himmelsblått defended for their lives against the Premier League leaders, but no goals scored and 12 conceded so far tells its own story. And given that they lost 4-0 away to Zenit, even the consolation prize of a place in the Europa League in the new year seems an extremely long shot.

Minds must surely turn to domestic matters, where Malmö are locked in an exciting four-way battle for the Allsvenskan title.