It’s a 5000-mile round trip, to go to Azerbaijan in search of our next three points in the Champions League, so we better make sure we do in fact return with all three. This Qarabag side, winners of two
of their first three league phase matches, are not the Qarabag whom we beat 10-0 combined home and away in 2017-18 … and neither are we the Chelsea of that season, reigning Premier League champions and all.
If the Chelsea of the Spurs and Liverpool games show up, we should have Qarabag, in the bag. If the Chelsea of the Sunderland or the Wolves (second half) games show up, we might be in for some unwelcome drama.
Time to take care of business (just like Eden Hazard took care of Europa League final business in this city back in 2019).
Date / Time: Wednesday, November 5, 2025, 17.45 GMT; 12:45pm EDT; 11:15pm IST
Venue: Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan
Referee: Sebastian Gishamer (on pitch); Manuel Schuettengruber (VAR)
Forecast: Cool, chance of rain
On TV: TNT Sports 2 (UK); UniMás, TUDN (USA); Sony TEN 2 (India); SuperSport MáXimo 1 (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: discovery+ (UK); Paramount+, Univision NOW (USA); Sony LIV (India); DStv Now (NGA)
Qarabag team news: Chelsea were still basking in the Club World Cup glow when Qarabag began their European season, barely ten days after the final whistle blew at MetLife Stadium and the Blues were declared Champions of the World. Since then, Qarabag have lost just two games on the continent (of nine played), navigating three rounds of qualifying to get into the league phase, where they’ve already taken scalps from Benfica and FC Copenhagen. Defeat to Athletic Bilbao on the previous matchday brought them back to reality, but they are still in with a great chance of making history and reaching the knockout rounds for the first time ever.
As evern, there’s no pressure on them, it’s already a great occasion, as head coach Gurban Gurbanov said in his pre-match press conference. Gurbanov was also in charge back in 2017: in fact, he’s been at the club for 17(!) years. Very impressive!
“We have prepared well for this game. I have faith in my players. I believe that our fans will enjoy the match. [But] even if we lose to a team from a league like [the Premier League], it is no judgement on us. We have to be confident. We have to give our fans something to celebrate. Chelsea coming to Baku to play against us is already a victory for us.”
-Gurban Gurbanov; source: UEFA
Chelsea team news: Unlike for our trip to Kazakhstan last season, when we left just about every first-team player at home and took only the “B-team” and a bunch of Academy players to play Astana, this time it’s the full squad traveling. Only long-term absentees Levi Colwill, Dário Essugo, Cole Palmer, and Benoît Badiashile were left at home, joined at the last minute by Pedro Neto due to a “small issue”. Neto’s expected to be fit for the weekend.
“Not a problem, just a small issue. So we try to protect him. He is not involved in tomorrow’s game.”
-Enzo Maresca; source: Chelsea FC
That said, Maresca is certainly expected to rotate and keep the big guns fresh for the weekend’s game against Wolves and their new manager.
Previously: This will be our third match against Qarabag after the games in the group stages back in 2017. We won 6-0 at the Bridge, then 4-0 away. Davide Zappacosta scored a great goal in the first game, which was our first game back in the Champions League after a year’s absence.
