Maurizio Sarri limps on, his tenure surely extended to a Wembley cup final on Sunday and that daunting collision with Manchester City at the very least. Chelsea may have left it late to impose themselves properly on Malmö and smooth passage into the last 16 of the Europa League but, at present, any kind of victory is to be celebrated by head coach and club alike.

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There had been periods in both games when the Premier League side had seemed stretched by Swedish opponents essentially still in pre-season, but as the visitors tired, their numbers depleted after Rasmus Bengtsson’s dismissal for a pair of desperate fouls, Chelsea’s quality told. It was fitting Callum Hudson-Odoi, one of the few in home ranks whose display had not initially been cramped by nerves, should fizz in the third goal late on, even if there was an irony he had made the occasion feel so comfortable given how hard the 18-year-old has found it to convince Sarri he deserves proper involvement.

Even picking Hudson-Odoi for a first start since the closure of the transfer window, and his failed attempt to force a move to Bayern Munich, had at least lifted the local gloom. The winger offers something different to so much of the dirge served up of late. He is skilful, quick and unpredictable in the final third, and now has three goals and as many assists from six starts this term. None have been in the Premier League, however. “Hopefully I did well and made an impact,” the winger offered.

Sarri has been more wary of the innocence of youth, presumably fearing ill-discipline might undermine the collective effort, and must have winced at the youngster’s slack touch when the game was goalless and which presented Markus Rosenberg with Malmö’s clearest chance. But Chelsea needed something fresh and exciting to lift spirits, and the sight of Hudson-Odoi tearing away down the right, spreading panic, served a purpose.

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Whether Sarri will now consider Hudson-Odoi’s credentials for the Carabao Cup final is less certain. “Callum is 18 and has to improve a lot,” he said. “We are using him in the right way at the moment, and the 20 matches this season will be 30 matches in the next, and 40 in two years. People need to understand that in the same position we have Pedro, Willian and [Eden] Hazard.

“I want to remind you that Callum, with this game, has played 14 matches. In England this season, there isn’t another 18-year-old player with 14 matches in the first-team.” That conveniently overlooked the games played by Phil Foden and Ryan Sessegnon at Manchester City and Fulham respectively.

Sarri pointed to the impact made by Emerson Palmieri, who drew the foul from Bengtsson which saw the centre-half dismissed 17 minutes from time, and Andreas Christensen. The suspicion remains that the same old suspects, those overwhelmed at the Etihad a few weeks ago, will probably start at Wembley, when the respite offered up by Europe will seem a distant memory. That is the truer test of this team’s ability to recover their poise, and may determine the manager’s future, particularly with Tottenham lying in wait just a few days later back at Stamford Bridge.

At least Sarri, who had endured the locals’ frustration as their defence of the FA Cup petered out in disappointment earlier in the week, escaped a barracking from the sidelines. He remains without his assistant, Gianfranco Zola, who has suffered complications after a gallstone problem, and cut a lonely, agitated figure on the sidelines at times, forever fretting beyond the fringes of his technical area and sucking ever more deeply on the cigarette butt which is supposed to serve as a comforter. It offered no solace through that anxious opening half hour, when Malmö had pinned his team back and the nerves gripped.

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Order was only really restored after the moment Willian conjured a step-over and burst to the byline, reassuring Chelsea’s senior players of their quality. They would prove ruthless after the interval, as the Swedes chased the tie and left themselves open on the counterattack. N’Golo Kanté’s anticipation, bursting forward from the halfway line to intercept Lasse Nielsen’s stray header, would force the home side ahead. Kanté would not be caught, with Malmö’s rearguard suddenly ragged, before he fed the overlapping Willian down the left. The Brazilian’s cross was pinpoint for Olivier Giroud to prod home a sixth goal in seven Europa League matches this term.

That deflated the visitors whose own deficiencies, both in terms of quality and basic fitness, had finally been exposed. Ross Barkley curled in a free-kick in the wake of Bengtsson’s sending off, before Hudson-Odoi made his favourable impression near the end. A far sterner test than this awaits at Wembley.

“You want me to be honest?” asked Malmö’s manager, the former City striker Uwe Rösler, when asked if he had spied signs Sarri’s team would offer sterner resistance in the final than they did at the Etihad earlier this month. “City are another calibre to us. They will ask more questions of Chelsea.” It was impossible to disagree.