UEFA Europa League
Result: Chelsea 1-0 MOL Vidi FC
Date: 04 October 2018
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Alvaro Morata netted his second goal of the season as Chelsea recorded a 1-0 win over MOL Vidi FC in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday evening.
As expected, Maurizio Sarri made a couple changes from the draw with Liverpool as Eden Hazard, N'Golo Kante and Marcos Alonso made way for Emerson, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Cesc Fabregas.
Alvaro Morata was included in the line-up, but he squandered a big chance to stake a claim for the striker's role with a bad miss in the box after 16 minutes.
The Blues continued to threaten for the opening goal as Pedro Rodriguez forced Tomas Tujvel into a save with a strike from distance midway through the half.
Vidi, meanwhile, offered no threat going forward, although they did grow stronger defensively as the stanza continued, restricting Chelsea in the final third.
Neither side could find an opening goal for the remainder of the half, while the same trend ensued in the second half, which forced Sarri to introduce Hazard for Pedro on 54 minutes.
The deadlock was eventually broken in the 70th minute, as Willian's flick-on found Morata at the near post and the Spaniard smashed the ball home to end his goal drought for the Blues.
Chelsea nearly bagged a second goal seven minutes later through Ross Barkely, who rose well to meet Hazard's cross only to see his header crash off the upright.
Kepa Arrizabalaga ensured the Blues walked away with all three points with a superb save to his right to keep out Istvan Kovacs' close range strike late on.
Other results:
Spartak Moscow 3-3 Villarreal Rangers 3-1 Rapid Wien Krasnodar 2-1 Sevilla Standard Liege 2-1 Akhisarspor Apollon 2-2 Olympique Marseille Eintracht Frankfurt 4-1 Lazio Jablonec 2-2 Dynamo Kiev Malmo 2-0 Besiktas Sarpsborg 3-1 Genk BATE 1-3 PAOK
