Chelsea's 1,000 Leagues to the East

In Jules Verne's popular science fiction adventure novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, Captain Nemo's submarine Nautilus roams the seas, crossing the immense distance from the title.

In reality, Chelsea captain Enzo Fernandez and his teammates will have to travel 1,000 leagues to the east and reach Azerbaijan, where they'll face Qarabag (20.45) in the UEFA Champions League fourth round. The distance between London and Baku is around 3,000 miles (one league equals approximately three miles), so the Blues are in for a long flight.

Even though Qarabag opened the UCL campaign with two wins over Benfica and Copenhagen and a defeat to Athletic Bilbao, and are level on the table with Enzo Maresca's team, the visitors are firm favourites.

The Italian tactician announced that Liam Delap would be back on the team, though some of Chelsea's key midfielders - the skipper Fernandez or Moises Caicedo - could get some rest and be replaced by Romeo Lavia, Andrey Santos, or Facundo Buonanotte.

When Mourinho's wrath catches up: "You damn bastards! Cowards!"

Estevao and Jamie Gittens will probably lead the attack alongside the ex-Ipswich striker, while Alejandro Garnacho and Tyrique George will wait for a chance from the bench. Cole Palmer is still sidelined, though Maresca revealed he is close to returning.

Still, the Blues' biggest problem could be the long trip, as they'll return to the English capital on Thursday morning, while the next Premier League challenge awaits them already on Sunday, when they'll face Wolverhampton on the road.

Nevertheless, Maresca's squad is deep enough to be able to win clashes against European minnows from Azerbaijan and the team from the bottom of the EPL. If they fail, it'll be a massive disappointment.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 4

Tuesday

Napoli - Eintracht Frankfurt 0-0

Slavia Prague - Arsenal 0-3 (0-1)

/Saka 32 pen, Merino 46, 68/

Atletico Madrid - St. Gilloise 3-1 (1-0)

/Alvarez 39, Gallagher 72, Llorente 90+6 - Sykes 80/

Bodo/Glimt - Monaco 0-1 (0-1)

/Balogun 43/

Juventus - Sporting Lisbon 1-1 (1-1)

/Vlahovic 34 - Araujo 12/

Liverpool - Real Madrid 1-0 (0-0)

/Mac Allister 61/

Olympiacos - PSV 1-1 (1-0)

/Martins 17 - Pepi 90+3/

PSG - Bayern Munich 1-2 (0-2)

/Neves 74 - Diaz 4, 32/

Tottenham - Copenhagen 4-0 (1-0)

/Johnson 19, Odobert 51, Van de Ven 64, Palhinha 67/

Wednesday

20.45: (7.00) Paphos (4.40) Villareal (1.47)

20.45: (8.00) Qarabag (5.30) Chelsea (1.35)

23.00: (3.20) Ajax (4.00) Galatasaray (2.15)

23.00: (2.05) Benfica (3.70) Leverkusen (3.70)

23.00: (5.50) Club Brugge (5.15) Barcelona (1.53)

23.00: (1.05) Inter (14.0) Kairat Almaty (45.0)

23.00: (1.45) Man.City (5.25) Dortmund (6.75)

23.00: (1.50) Newcastle (4.20) Ath.Bilbao (6.75)

23.00: (2.10) Olympique Marseille (3.75) Atalanta (3.50)

***odds are subject to change***