Photo: Chelsea Twitter

Chelsea players travelled to Belarus early today ahead of the clash against BATE Boriov in the Europa League Group L tie.

Chelsea currently top the group with nine points, and Maurizio Sarri’s side have been too hot to handle.

On the way to the airport, the players seemed to be on high spirits as they anticipate yet another victory.

Photo: Chelsea Twitter

Sarri tends to use the Europa League to play his second string side, with the likes of Andreas Christensen, Gary Cahill, Emerson Palmieri, Davide Zappacosta, Cesc Fabregas and Ruben Loftus-Cheek getting their game time in this fixture.

Chelsea are all but through in our Europa League group and Sarri is debating whether it is worth risking the 27-year-old.

Hazard has just recovered from a back injury which ruled him out of three matches and could only manage half an hour in Sunday’s 3-1 win against Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge because he wasn’t fully fit.

Hazard is Chelsea’s top scorer this season with eight goals and Sarri is wary about risking Hazard, with the more important clash against Everton in the Premier League on Sunday.

Hazard has featured just once in the Europa League this season, when he came off the bench against Vidi. The Blues have won all three of our games in Group L.