Don’t be caught out by the early kick-off at the 31,000-seater Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium – 5.45pm UK time on Guy Fawkes’ night in the land of fire.

Our hosts on the Absheron peninsula are Qarabag, two rungs below on the Champions League ladder. The Horsemen were well beaten when the teams met in this competition in 2017, at the much larger Baku Olympic Stadium.

Long-serving coach Gurban Gurbanov’s multinational UEFA regulars are stronger now. They had to fulfil six qualifying fixtures, but have made the most of those preparations in the competition proper.

In winning the opening two league-stage games against Benfica and Copenhagen, Qarabag became the first of their countryfolk to record back-to-back victories in European football’s marquee competition – though Athletic Bilbao beat them 3-1 in Spain last time out.

The Horsemen welcomed mid-table Imisli in the Azeri Premier League early on Friday, the visitors missing an early penalty and going down 2-0 to the defending league champions.

Enzo Maresca’s side are targeting a fifth-straight away win across all competitions, matching a similar streak in late 2024.

The world champions embarked on this 5,000-mile round-trip following an impressive derby victory at Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, the 1-0 margin underselling the visitors’ dominance.

In the Champions League group/league stage, the Blues have lost just three of our past 26 matches, winning 17, most recently an emphatic 5-1 victory over Ajax.

Chelsea have scored in each of our 18 European games since April 2023. The next Blues goal in the Champions League will be our 350th.

Team news

Maresca confirmed in his pre-match press conference that Pedro Neto will be left at home and miss this game, yet there is no major concern over his fitness.

‘Not a problem, just a small issue,' the Chelsea head coach explained when asked why Neto hadn't featured in our morning session. 'So we try to protect him. He is not involved in tomorrow’s game.’

Changes to the starting line-up are also expected, with Maresca outlining the need to utilise fresh players for what he expects to be a challenging fixture.

He said: ‘It’s an important game because it can give us three wins in a row in the Champions League and it can give us nine points.

'For sure, we need to rotate some of the players, because we arrive back in London on Thursday morning at 6am, then on Saturday we have another game.'

The history

Chelsea have visited Baku twice previously, but only once to play Azerbaijan’s most celebrated football club, Qarabag, who finished the encounter with 10 men. That was in the 2017/18 group stage of this competition at Baku Olympic Stadium, the Blues winning 4-0 to reach the knockout stage for the 14th time in 15 attempts.

Following up a 6-0 victory at home, Antonio Conte’s team performed professionally on a challenging surface, with two goals from Willian - one a slide-rule shot from an Eden Hazard back-heel - and spot-kicks from Cesc Fabregas and false-nine Hazard.

The Londoners’ second 5,000-mile round-trip came on 29 May 2019, for the final of the Europa League at the same stadium against Arsenal, the most distant London derby ever played.

Maurizio Sarri earned the first trophy of his managerial career as Olivier Giroud - against his old club - and Pedro swept the Blues into a two-goal lead. Hazard wrong-footed Chelsea old boy Petr Cech from the spot to notch our third and, after Alex Iwobi briefly raised the Gunners’ hopes, the Belgian scored again for 4-1, signing off his Chelsea career with a brace.

Know this...

Conference League champions Chelsea have won 14 of our last 16 UEFA matches and scored in each of the past 18.

Qarabag have lost each of their past seven matches against Premier League opposition, the last six without scoring.

In the 5-1 win against Ajax, the Blues became the first-ever Champions League team to have three teenage goalscorers in the same game – Estevao Willian (18), Tyrique George and Marc Guiu (both 19).

At 18 years and 181 days, Estevao is in the history books as our youngest-ever Champions League scorer, surpassing Marc Guiu (19 years, 291 days) in the same game, while Reggie Walsh (17 years, 2 days) is the youngest to make an appearance in the competition for the Londoners.

Unsurprisingly, the Blues fielded the second-youngest ever English team in the competition, at an average of 21 years and 49 days.

The 1-0 win at Tottenham was Enzo Maresca’s 50th win in his 79th game in charge, a success rate of 63.29 per cent.

Champions League regulations

Each of the 36 participating clubs plays eight different opponents in the initial league stage and their standings appear on a single table. Teams finishing in the top eight qualify directly for the round of 16, while eight of those in ninth to 24th place can join them via two-legged play-off games in February. Those placed 25th or lower exit the competition.

Last season, 16 points sufficed for Aston Villa to finish eighth, while Club Brugge qualified for the play-offs in 24th place with 11. Teams tied in the table on points are separated by goal difference, then goals scored, away goals, number of wins, away wins or, finally, alphabetical order.

Players and club officials are suspended for the next match after accumulating three cautions that did not result in a red card. All yellow cards expire on completion of the quarter-finals.

Chelsea yellow cards
1 - Buonanotte, Estevao, Fernandez, Santos, Tosin