In truth, Chelsea rarely looked troubled by our Championship opposition on a wet night at Stamford Bridge, as our run in the Carabao Cup continues into the quarter-finals.

It wasn't initially a game full of action, but we calmly ground away at the Blackburn Rovers defence waiting for the first crack to appear. It duly arrived before the half-time break, when Rovers keeper Leopold Wahlstedt palmed a cross into danger under no pressure. There were no complaints from those in Blue, though, as Benoit Badiashile marked his first appearance of the season by ruthlessly punishing the error with the opening goal.

There was a brief scare after the break, but we got through unscathed and our second goal had been coming for some while when it was provided by Raheem Sterling. It owed plenty to the excellent Cole Palmer, who won the ball back high up the pitch, but it was Sterling who curled a delightful shot into the back of the net to make it 2-0.

Despite Robert Sanchez needing to produce a good low save at his near post in injury time to preserve our clean sheet, this was a fairly routine victory, although no less satisfying for it.

The big news before kick-off was that captain Reece James was back in the starting line-up for the first time since the opening day of the season, while he was joined in returning to the team by Benoit Badiashile, making his first appearance of 2023/24 following injury. They were two of four changes by Mauricio Pochettino, Enzo Fernandez and Lesley Ugochukwu the other two coming in.

Confident start

We went straight on the attack with a clear sign of intent. Enzo Fernandez took the ball from centre and spotted the quick run by Nicolas Jackson, feeding him in the right-hand channel. That resulted in the striker registering the game’s first shot inside the opening seven seconds, but it was diverted behind for a corner.

We were soon back on the attack, some lovely work by Cole Palmer in his own half releasing Reece James down the right. He exchanged passes with Conor Gallagher and delivered low towards the penalty spot, but Raheem Sterling, Enzo and Jackson all went for it and got in each other’s way. There was then a strong appeal for a Chelsea penalty, when Sterling went down in the box under a reckless sliding challenge, but the referee wasn’t interested and there is no VAR at this stage of the Carabao Cup.

The direct route was bringing us some joy, particularly with Enzo spraying the passes from deep. His next target was James, who had set off on a lung-busting run down the right, showing he hadn’t lost any of his zip during his time out. He got free inside the box, but was at an angle and the goalkeeper was able to save Reece’s low drive with his legs.

At the other end, Badiashile had to be alert to snuff out a chance for Callum Brittain and, from the resulting corner, Robert Sanchez was called into action for the first time, although it was a routine save for the Spaniard.

James wasn’t far away from finding the opener midway through the first half. After some patient build-up from the Blues, our skipper was urged to shoot from outside the box by the supporters and, after waiting for his opening, obliged. However, his low effort skipped just wide of the far post with the keeper at full stretch, as he was moments later to push away a curling Enzo effort. The pressure was beginning to mount on Blackburn.

A gift for Benoit

That pressure soon told, as we got the small slice of luck we needed to find the breakthrough opportunity inside the Rovers’ box. It arrived when goalkeeper Leopold Wahlstedt failed to deal with Gallagher’s cross following a set-piece, succeeding only in pawing it down towards Badiashile near the penalty spot.

There could be few more eager recipients than the French defender playing his first game of the season due to injury. He accepted the chance gratefully, calmly slotting low into the net for his second goal in Chelsea colours.

There was a brief scare at the start of the second half, when a big clearance suddenly cleared the Chelsea defence for Harry Leonard to chase, and it looked like he might be clear on goal, but Axel Disasi did enough to unsettle the striker and his shot lacked conviction as it trickled wide.

After that the game settled into a period of stalemate. Chelsea were enjoying plenty of the ball, and in the opposition half too, but not threatening to add to our lead. But neither were we looking in danger of losing it, with little in the way of goal-mouth action at either end for some time.

Pulling away

Palmer nearly changed that in spectacular style. His skill had been a thorn in our opponents’ side all evening and he was at it again, twisting and turning to get free and charge into the box, firing high and hard towards goal, but his shot was tipped over.

Not long afterwards we did have our second, though, and Palmer played a big part in it. When Blackburn tried to build out from the goalkeeper, they didn’t get far before our No20 intervened to win possession in a dangerous area. The ball was passed on to Sterling, and the rest was predictable, Raheem drifting across on the ball to open up onto his right foot before curling a shot into the far corner in trademark style.

Safe and sound

With a two-goal lead secure, Pochettino made a pair of substitutions with players’ recovery clearly in mind. James and Badiashile, both back in the team following spells out, were the two to make way, Malo Gusto and Levi Colwill replacing them.

Things were fairly comfortable from that point on, and the Blues were unlucky not to extend our advantage further. First Jackson swept over the bar following good work by Sterling to get free of his man on the right, before a deflected Palmer shot struck the base of the post, denying him the goal his performance warranted.

Apart from a brief spell 15 minutes from the end, Blackburn never looked like mustering enough of a fightback to concern Chelsea, and even that was shortlived and weathered without fuss. That allowed us to slow the pace down and control things until the end for a job well done.

What it means

Chelsea have booked our place in the quarter-finals of this season's Carabao Cup, keeping our pursuit of the campaign's first silverware alive. We will learn our next opponents in the competition later this evening.

What’s next

We are back in Premier League action next, although not until after the weekend, as we travel to London rivals Tottenham Hotspur for the Monday night kick-off on 6 November, which begins at 8pm.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Sanchez; James (c) (Gusto 62), Disasi, Badiashile (Colwill 62), Cucurella; Gallagher, Ugochukwu, Enzo (Matos 87); Palmer (Madueke 87), Jackson (Caicedo 76), Sterling
Unused subs: Petrovic, Maatsen, Castledine, Washington
Scorers: Badiashile 30, Sterling 59

Blackburn Rovers (4-1-4-1): Wahlstedt; Brittain, Hill, Carter (S. Wharton 62), Pickering; A. Wharton; Markanday (Dolan 62), Travis (c), Moran (Sigurdsson 74), Garrett; Leonard (Ennis 74)
Unused subs: Hilton, Gamble, Batty, Rankin-Costello, Tronstad
Booked: Pickering 23

Referee: Tim Robinson

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