Chelsea 2-0 Blackburn: Benoit Badiashile and Raheem Sterling score in either half as Pochettino’s Blues cruise into Carabao Cup quarter-finals

Mauricio Pochettino has caused so many injury headaches that the sight of one of his stars returning from a game to help Chelsea through would have been particularly welcome.

In his first start since recovering from a serious hamstring problem in May, Benoit Badiashile put Chelsea on their way to the quarter-finals.

He was back in the starting line-up, along with Reece James, who had his own fitness problems. The pair escaped unscathed after 61 minutes following positive evenings individually and just after Raheem Sterling sealed Chelsea’s final eighth-place finish against the Championship’s mid-table side. Blackburn.

Without the long list of injury problems, Chelsea’s Premier League prospects might look more encouraging than they currently do.

And because there is no European football this season, the national cup tournaments seem to be the clearest route to some form of success. They are now just two rounds away from the final.

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Achieving that goal increased last night as Arsenal and Manchester United joined Manchester City and Tottenham in already crashing out of the competition.

Pochettino said: ‘I think we can start thinking about winning the league because we are not in Europe. Like the Premier League, it should be a big opportunity for us.”

What would have completed things for Chelsea was a goal to boost Nicolas Jackson’s confidence after finding himself in pundit Alan Shearer’s line of fire, forcing Pochettino to defend him.

But while there was nothing to fault in Jackson’s application, his touch was uncertain and he easily overcame his best chance to silence Shearer.

However, he was not the only guilty party. Chelsea squandered plenty of other chances to win more comfortably.

And as they well know, they can’t be that profligate in the Premier League and almost certainly not when they travel to league leaders Tottenham on Monday.

Pochettino’s starting line-up was unsurprisingly strong and Chelsea started like they meant business.

Their start included a penalty after Raheem Sterling was brought down by Lewis Travis, although Blackburn also later shouted forcefully after a cross hit Conor Gallagher’s hand.

“You saw it,” said Blackburn boss Jon Dahl Tomasson. ‘Decision-making, small moments can change games, but Chelsea also had a lot of chances.’

The first they converted fell on the half hour to Badiashile. Seconds after Blackburn goalkeeper Leopold Wahlstedt pushed away Enzo Fernandez’s shot, the visitors would have remained level had he dealt with Gallagher’s cross as effectively.

But he could only poorly send the ball straight to Badiashile, who put Chelsea ahead.

Blackburn had their best chance to level when Harry Leonard raced through early in the second half, but shot wide before Sterling punished them for creating possession near their goal as he headed into Chelsea’s second.

Chelsea spent the final half hour piling up chances and the only surprise was that they finished with just two goals as an impressive late stop from Robert Sanchez denied Amor Sigurdsson a consolation.