Chelsea secured their passage into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals after they defeated Blackburn Rovers 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday evening.

Halfway through the half, Conor Gallagher’s cross from a short corner was palmed by Rovers keeper Leopold Wahlstedt straight to the French center-back Badiashile, who was starting for Chelsea for the first time since May.

After almost an hour, Sterling doubled the lead by running onto Cole Palmer’s interception and curling the ball into the far corner.

The best opportunity for Blackburn came in the closing seconds when substitute Arnor Sigurdsson was played through but Robert Sanchez made a fantastic save to keep it out.

Although Chelsea has had a difficult season in the Premier League, finishing 11th in the standings with just three victories from 10 games, their Carabao Cup performances have been encouraging, and getting closer to some hardware will give Mauricio Pochettino’s team a much-needed boost.

For the majority of this season, Chelsea fans haven’t been able to witness Reece James flying down the right as part of the team’s attack.

The Chelsea captain, who was starting for the first time since the Premier League season’s opening day, posed a constant threat to Blackburn and had a good chance saved in the first half.

After an hour, he was replaced, but the experience will help him have a strong chance of getting off to a fast start against Tottenham on Monday in the Premier League.

Prior to Pochettino’s arrival at the club, Badiashile, a £35 million January acquisition from Monaco, was in the treatment room, so the Chelsea manager will have greatly benefited from his return.

The 22-year-old looked confident next to former Monaco teammate Axel Disasi after putting on a strong performance before being substituted out along with James.

He will be hoping to return from a lengthy injury layoff with the goal and clean sheet.

His next task will be to break into the Chelsea starting lineup before fellow left-sided centre back Levi Colwill.