(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Chelsea moved to the brink of sealing their place in the Champions League last 16, but the defending champions were made to work hard for a 1-0 win over Malmo in Sweden yesterday. Hakim Ziyech broke the home side's resistance 11 minutes into the second-half as the Moroccan tapped home from Callum Hudson-Odoi's inch-perfect cross.
Thomas Tuchel's men moved onto nine points from four games, level with Juventus at the top of the Group H and six clear of third-placed Zenit St Petersburg. The Italian giants were playing Zenit in Turin late last night
Tuchel resisted the temptation to make wholesale changes despite cruising past the Swedish champions 4-0 on home soil two weeks ago. Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner both sustained injuries in the first meeting between the sides. Chelsea have not missed the firepower of their two first-choice strikers, despite Kai Havertz failing to step up in their absence.
The German, who scored the winning goal in last season's final against Manchester City, missed the best chance of a cagey first-half dominated by the visitors. Havertz fired too close to Johan Dahli when one-on-one, while the Malmo 'keeper was also forced into routine saves by Ziyech, Marcos Alonso and Andreas Christensen.
One moment of quality made the difference for the European champions as Hudson-Odoi and Havertz exchanged a one-two that freed the England winger down the right and his cross perfectly picked out Ziyech to tap home. More chances came and went for Chelsea in the final quarter, the best of which was wasted by substitute Christian Pulisic in stoppage time. But they never looked in danger of conceding an equaliser as they registered an eighth clean sheet in 10 Champions League games under Tuchel.
Wolfsburg stun leaders
Salzburg 2-1 to stay in hunt for top two finish
VfL Wolfsburg stunned Champions League Group G leaders Salzburg 2-1 to rekindle their hopes of a top two finish and a spot in the knockout stage. The Wolves, with new coach Florian Kohfeldt making his debut in the competition after taking over last week, struck once in either half with Ridle Baku and Lukas Nmecha to climb up to five points, two behind the Austrians. Sevilla, who were facing Lille later, are on three with the French team on two.
Salzburg teenager Karim Adeyemi had a first big chance after only two minutes but he could not quite control his shot from four metres out to fire wide. Only two minutes later it was Wolfsburg who scored with unmarked Baku slotting in at the far post.
Salzburg, looking to seal their first ever knockout stage spot with a win, drew level when Maximilan Woeber beautifully curled a left-footed free kick over the wall and past keeper Koen Casteels on the half hour mark. Adeyemi then squandered another golden opportunity four minutes after the restart when he raced into the box, held off his marker but saw his low shot roll just wide of the post. Wolfsburg, however, scored once more against the run of play, with Nmecha latching onto a pinpoint Maximilian Arnold cross, chesting the ball down and thumping it in from the tightest of angles to secure their first win in the group.
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