Londoners’ night:
Chelsea’s Oliver Giroud (right) vying for the ball with Malmo’s Lasse Nielsen in the Europa League last-32 second-leg match at Stamford Bridge on Thursday. Chelsea won 3- 0 to progress 5-1 on aggregate. Right: Arsenal’s Sokratis Papastathopoulos (left) celebrating with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after scoring the third goal in the 3- 0 win over BATE Borisov at the Emirates. Arsenal advanced 3-1 on aggregate.
Chelsea’s under-fire manager Maurizio Sarri has dismissed reports he is in talks to replace Eusebio Di Francesco at Roma.
Sarri’s future in London has come into question after his side dropped to sixth in the Premier League, with fans turning on the Italian during recent defeats to Manchester City and Manchester United.
Thursday’s 3-0 win over Malmo at Stamford Bridge put Chelsea into the last 16 of the Europa League 5-1 on aggregate and relieved some of the pressure on Sarri, but he still had to answer questions about the Roma links after the match.
“I have a contract with Chelsea for the next two seasons so it is impossible to have another contract,” he told BT Sport.
“I read in an Italian newspaper something about a meeting with (Roma advisor) Franco Baldini but I think for the moment Franco is in South Africa, so it is very difficult.”
Another figure at Chelsea feeling the heat is midfielder Jorginho, who was booed by the home support when he replaced goal scorer Ross Barkley in the second half.
Sarri came to the Italy international’s defence.
“I think that in the first 30 minutes we understood why Jorginho is very important for our team,” Sarri told reporters. “We were in trouble to exit from our half with the pressing.
“With Jorginho, it is easier, I think. I would hope that our fans would be able to understand that Jorginho for us is really a very important player.”
Ahead 2-1 from the first leg in Sweden, Chelsea had to wait until 10 minutes after the break for the first sign of excitement, Olivier Giroud tapping in the decisive goal of a humdrum encounter at Stamford Bridge.
Barkley made sure of the win with a super free-kick in the 74th minute, just after Malmo’s Rasmus Bengtsson was sent off for his second bookable offence, before 18-year-old Callum Hudson-Odoi made the most of a rare start by crashing home the third.
Chelsea next play Manchester City in the League Cup final at Wembley tomorrow.