Chelsea 3-0 BATE Borisov LIVE: Score, Ruben Loftus-Cheek scores Europa League hat-trick | Football | Sport

Chelsea vs BATE Borisov: LIVE Europa League score, goals and updates from Stamford Bridge

Chelsea XI: Arrizabalaga, Zappacosta, Christensen, Cahill, Emerson Palmieri, Loftus-Cheek, Fabregas, Kovacic, Willian, Giroud, Pedro

BATE XI: Scherbitski, Rios, Filipovic, Filipenko, Volodjko, Baha, Dragun, Hleb, Skavysh, Signevich, Stasevich

CHELSEA 3-0 BATE | LOFTUS-CHEEK (2, 8, 54)

• Sarri makes 8 changes from Man Utd draw, Eden Hazard out injured
• Ruben Loftus-Cheek scores inside two minutes
• Loftus-Cheek pokes home from a corner
• Loftus-Cheek completes hat-trick inside 54 minutes

CHELSEA 3-0 BATE

68: Scherbitski is forced into action when Zappacosta collects the ball and fizzes a swerving effort from 25-yards out. You know the Chelsea fans are happy when they start singing THAT Steven Gerrard song…

65: Callum Hudson-Odoi, who looked brilliant in pre-season, replaces Pedro. Not showing a great deal of mercy is Maurizio Sarri. This 17-year-old is absolutely electric.

63: Ruben Loftus-Cheek is the first English player to score a hat-trick in the UEFA Europa League since Harry Kane for Spurs vs Asteras Tripolis in October 2014.

60: No idea why the BATE coach forced a clearly injured Alexander Hleb to play the second half after that late injury. Anyway, he’s off now with Mirko Ivanic taking his place.

57: Maurizio Sarri makes a change with Victor Moses replacing Willian. I guess that means the Brazilian will play against Burnley on Sunday.

“He’s one of our own, Loftus-Cheek, he’s one of our own,” sing the Chelsea fans.

CHELSEA 3-0 BATE | LOFTUS-CHEEK

54: Rampant Ruben! Ruben Loftus-Cheek completes a 54-minute hat-trick to send Stamford Bridge into ecstasy.

The ball falls kindly for the English midfielder on the edge of the area and he opens his body and curls it beyond Scherbitski.

Loftus-Cheek almost looks embarrassed because… well… the goalkeeping was utterly dreadful. Never mind.

CHELSEA 2-0 BATE

55: Ruben Loftus-Cheek loses his balance inside the penalty area. Actually… the replays show that Dragun pushed him. Referee not interested but that could have been a spot-kick on another day.

51: Early corner goes Chelsea’s way but Volodjko clears it with Cahill lurking in the six-yard box.

48: Not exactly a breathless start to the second half with BATE seeing most of the ball. Interesting to see Loftus-Cheek and Kovacic switching sides in midfield. Sarri probably wants to see what the England international is capable of.

CHELSEA 2-0 BATE

45: And we’re back underway at Stamford Bridge. No changes for Maurizio Sarri’s side – but I would expect Pedro, Willian and Kovacic to come off at some point before the hour-mark.

CHELSEA 2-0 BATE

HT: Not. Broken. Sweat. Chelsea have completely dominated BATE Borisov at Stamford Bridge – this has barely been a contest. Ruben Loftus-Cheek showcasing his talents nicely with his first two European goals.

44: Alexander Hleb, who’s been head and shoulders above any of his colleagues tonight, goes down in a heap clutching his ankle. I don’t think the former Arsenal midfielder will continue. He hobbles off the field.

42: Willian switches through the gears and leaves his marker for dead before squaring the ball to Giroud, who can’t flick it home at the near post.

39: It would be a little harsh to slam BATE for their display tonight. Chelsea are quite obviously a Champions League side under Maurizio Sarri and could probably win this fixture with their reserve squad.

Loftus-Cheek has the chance to complete a first-half hat-trick when stooping to head Zappacosta’s cross wide.

36: BATE’s manager looks livid with Baha, who received a fine cross from the left but decides to take a second touch instead of thwacking it first time. Very good chance to pull one back goes begging.

33:  “If Loftus-Cheek can start adding goals on a more regular basis he could be a big player for England as well as Chelsea he has the potential to be that good,” says Kyle on Twitter.

I guess he’s got to be starting to add more goals to his tally, Kyle. Certainly shown he’s capable tonight!

32: Ouch! Signevich and Christensen rise for the same ball but it’s the Chelsea defender who comes off worse. He’s up again but looks groggy.

29: Scrappy stuff nearly results in a Chelsea goal. Once again Kovacic is busy trying to walk it into the net before Willian drags a loose ball wide.

26: I expect Sarri is already thinking about resting a few of his troops for Sunday. Victor Moses, Callum Hudson-Odoi or even Alvaro Morata might benefit from more game time.

23: 65 percent of the ball and 7-0 on goal attempts for Chelsea.

Willian lofts a cross over to Kovacic, who is a little cheeky in his efforts to twist and turn the defender before firing wide. Possibly would have score if he’d banged it first time.

20: In other news, Eden Hazard is inside the stadium tonight to watch his colleagues in action. I think he’s got a shoulder complaint but should be fit for Sunday’s clash with Burnley.

17: Hot knife through butter. BATE don’t appear to have travelled with any game plan or idea of what to expect. No pressing, pressure on the ball or ability keep the ball for more than 20 seconds.

14: Ruben Loftus-Cheek scored as many goals in the opening seven minutes and 48 seconds of this match tonight (2) as he had previously in 35 games for Chelsea (2).

12: Chelsea are just toying with BATE Borisov here. Pedro and Willian are stretching the visitors from left to right.

Pedro collects an attempted clearance after a well-worked move from Kovacic, but his curling strike takes a deflection and bounces wide.

CHELSEA 2-0 BATE | LOFTUS-CHEEK

9: Olivier Giroud spins away in celebration – but Ruben Loftus-Cheek got the final touch!

The Blues midfielder grabs his second of the evening when arriving inside the penalty area to divert Willian’s corner beyond the helpless Scherbitski.

Does this mean he’s scored more than Alvaro Morata this season? Superior conversation rate for sure!

6: Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s goal versus BATE Borisov came with his first shot on target for Chelsea in 2018-19 (in his fourth appearance).

5: BATE are probably fearing the worst after that early goal. They’ve responded quite well with Rios sending a dangerous cross in from the right. Arrizabalaga collects with authority.

CHELSEA 1-0 BATE | LOFTUS-CHEEK

2: Boom! Chelsea aren’t messing around tonight. They’ve made the breakthrough inside two minutes courtesy of England international Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

It’s a relatively simple goal with Davide Zappacosta weaving his way down the left touchline before squaring it to the unmarked Loftus-Cheek, who sticks it beyond the BATE goalkeeper with a clinical first-time finish.

1: Olivier Giroud might just fancy his chances of getting on the scoresheet tonight. He struck twice against BATE for Arsenal in the Europa League last season. Could do with a goal to boost his confidence…

CHELSEA 0-0 BATE

1: Well the stupid timings of the Europa League clashes mean that we have absolutely ZERO time to build-up to this one at Stamford Bridge.

I guess all you really need to know is that Olivier Giroud leads the line for Maurizio Sarri’s side, that doesn’t include Eden Hazard because he’s out through injury.

Oh, and that pesky Marco Ianni who riled Jose Mourinho up with his celebrations is indeed on the touchline with his manager.

Evening…

18:45: Hello everyone, welcome to our LIVE coverage of the Europa League from Stamford Bridge.

Updates will start for this clash after the conclusion of Arsenal’s visit to Sporting Lisbon. You can follow our coverage by clicking this link HERE.

Team news and line-ups will appear here shortly.

CHELSEA vs BATE

Eden Hazard will miss Chelsea’s Europa League clash with BATE Borisov at Stamford Bridge due to a back injury.

Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri hopes to have Belgium forward Hazard fit in time for Sunday’s Premier League trip to Burnley.

Sarri has admitted he will rest midfielder Jorginho on Thursday with one eye on the weekend return to league action.

Chelsea provisional squad: Kepa, Caballero, Rudiger, Alonso, Fabregas, Kante, Barkley, Hazard, Pedro, Moses, Kovacic, Giroud, Zappacosta, Willian, Cahill, Christensen, Azpilicueta, Morata, Luiz, Emerson Palmieri, Loftus-Cheek, Hudson-Odoi, Bulka.