Chelsea settle for draw against Qarabag in Azerbaijan | OneFootball

Chelsea earned a point against Qarabag in Azerbaijan in what was an entertaining game of football with Alejandro Garnacho netting the equaliser.

Qarabag's game plan was always going to be clear to Enzo Maresca and his Chelsea side: soak up pressure and counter attack whenever possible.

Maresca was able to rotate his young squad with Roméo Lavia among the starters however the Blues will now be sweating on the latest update on the player's fitness after he was forced off with an injury inside the first 10 minutes.

The visitors took the lead in the 16th minute after some patient build-up play, Chelsea suddenly sped up with Andrey Santos finding his compatriot Estêvão to cut inside and finish past Mateusz Kochalski.

Some poor defending from the Premier League side allowed Qarabag back in the game and they were happy to accept the gift. Jorrel Hato wasn't strong enough under pressure from Camilo Durán, the Colombian went on to shoot but hit the post with Leandro Andrade finishing up on the rebound.

That goal raised Qarabag spirits and they took the lead from the penalty spot ten minutes later. Hato this time was a bit unfortunate that his arm was raised as Durán whipped in a cross.

Marko Jankovic confidentially stepped up to take the resulting penalty to put his side ahead.

Trailing at the break, Chelsea made three half-time changes with Enzo Fernández, Liam Delap, and Alejandro Garnacho all coming on.

It was the latter of that trio who made a quick impact as his low drive made it 2-2 with 52 minutes gone in the game.

From that point it could have been anyone's game. Chelsea certainly had the majority of the possession while Qarabag looked to pick their moments.

Indeed, the home side had a golden opportunity to win in stoppage time when a low ball found substitute Oleksii Kashchuk just a few yards out but the Ukrainian's shot was straight at Sánchez.

In the end, a draw was probably a fair result with Chelsea still having plenty of work to do if they want to get into one of the automatic qualification places.