Eden Hazard confident Chelsea are fighting fit for Liverpool test after Qarabag trip

Eden Hazard believes Chelsea's stars will be well rested and ready for Saturday's (25 November) Premier League showdown with Liverpool after cruising to victory against Qarabag in the Champions League.

Alvaro Morata, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Gary Cahill were named on the bench as Antonio Conte looked to rest some of his first-team options on Wednesday in Azerbaijan with Eden Hazard, Willian and Cesc Fabregas all getting on the scoresheet in a comprehensive victory that sealed their side's place in the knock-out stages of the competition.

Hazard, who opened the scoring on the night for his side, was taken off after 65 minutes with Morata replacing him with victory already secured. N'Golo Kante also came off early to be replaced by Danny Drinkwater.

After a season without European football last season, Conte and his side are getting to grips once again with the demands of playing every three days. But speaking to BT Sport after the win, Hazard explained he believes the whole Chelsea squad will be ready to the trip to Anfield.

"We have a big game on Saturday so some of the players they were able to rest today, they were on the bench," the Belgium international said. "I came off, N'Golo also, so yeah, it is easy because we only play 60, 65 minutes so we are ready for Saturday."

Willian added: "We need all the players to be ready for all the games. We play every three days now, we have to rest, to try to win more games so that is what we try to do."

A potentially tricky evening for Chelsea 5,000 miles away from home was made a whole lot easier after Qarabag were reduced to 10 men after just 19 minutes when captain Rashad Sadiqov was shown a straight red card for hauling Willian back inside the penalty area.

Hazard stepped up to covert from 12 yards out and provided the second for Wllian via a sumptuous backheel for his teammate to cap a fine team move.

With Hazard replaced in the second-half, Cesc Fabregas stepped up to convert Chelsea's second penalty of the evening after 73 minutes before Willian added his second on what was his 200<sup>th appearance for the Blues with a vicious strike from just outside the box.