Facundo Buonanotte opens Chelsea account as Blues secure unconvincing win over Lincoln City to move into EFL Cup last 16 | OneFootball

Chelsea just about did enough to see off the threat of Lincoln City thanks to a 2-1 triumph in Tuesday’s meeting between the sides.

Off the back of consecutive defeats against Bayern Munich and Manchester United, Enzo Maresca’s side headed to Sincil Bank in need of a lift.

Lincoln made a fast start to the game and nearly caught Chelsea cold in the second minute as Lewis Montsma struck the woodwork.

That set the tone for the opening 15 minutes of the game, during which Chelsea failed to gain a foothold.

Unsurprisingly, Chelsea grew into the half as it progressed and created their first decent chance in the 19th minute with Jamie Bynoe-Gittens getting on the end of an Enzo Fernandez clipped ball.

Still, Lincoln continued to threaten their visitors through Sonny Bradley, who sent a header just wide of Filip Jorgensen’s goal.

A vast majority of Lincoln’s attacking threat came from set pieces, and the League One outfit were perhaps a tad unlucky not to open the scoring just past the half-hour mark.

Another dangerous delivery from a corner into the Chelsea box left Jorgensen in no man’s land, but Lincoln were unable to get the ball over the line.

Making his first start since last month’s Premier League opener against Crystal Palace, Gittens was keen to impress and flashed an effort just past the near post five minutes from the interval.

Lincoln’s first-half display merited a goal which eventually came in the final knockings.

A loose pass from Enzo Fernandez was intercepted by Ivan Varfolomeev, and Robert Street was on hand to apply the finishing touch for the half’s final moment of note.

Chelsea began the second half with more impetus and restored parity within two minutes of the restart.

Tyrique George’s long-range effort was too good for Zachary Jeacock and struck the upright on its way in.

Having drawn level, Chelsea struck for a second time in two minutes with George turning provider for Facundo Buonanotte to grab his first goal for the Blues.

Now in the ascendancy, Chelsea went in search of a two-goal cushion, but Lincoln did enough to stay alive in the contest.

The home side started to intensify their search for a leveller in the final 20 minutes, during which Michael Skubala made a quadruple substitution.

Chelsea had made a triple change of their own moments before, and one of the players brought in was Pedro Neto, who dragged an effort wide shortly after coming on.

As Lincoln pushed forward in search of parity, they were nearly punished on the break with Buonanotte drawing a save from Jeacock after he was played through by Neto.

Lincoln made a late surge to force a penalty shootout, ultimately to no avail, as Chelsea held on to secure safe passage into the round of 16.