Chelsea’s hopes faint hopes of securing Champions League football next season were effectively extinguished as they could only draw 1-1 with Huddersfield Town at Stamford Bridge in their penultimate game of the campaign.

In fact, the Blues can count themselves fortunate to not have suffered yet another home defeat on Wednesday night, for Marcos Alonso’s 62nd-minute equaliser came under extremely fortuitous circumstances.

A Terriers defender was clearing a low Chelsea cross, but smacked it against the face of the Chelsea fullback and the ball bundled into the net before Jonas Lossl could do anything about it.

Earlier in the tie, the away side had taken the lead against the run of play, with their opener having a large slick of luck involved in it as well.

Aaron Mooy’s raking long ball had found Laurent Depoitre on the edge of the box and while Willy Caballero made a brave stop to deny the forward initially, the rebound fell kindly for the Belgian, who tapped in with glee.

Antonio Conte had started the returning Alvaro Morata alongside wingers Pedro and Willian as the Blues sought to keep the pressure on Spurs and Liverpool in the race for the top-four and the first-half was largely one-way traffic.

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Morata and defender Antonio Rudiger had the best chances of the opening 45 minutes, but somehow couldn’t convert and the sides went into the interval deadlocked.

A draw would have been enough to guarantee safety for David Wagner’s side and in the end that’s what happened, despite the Blues battering Lossl’s goal after Alonso’s opener.

Andreas Christensen almost scored the winner, but the Terriers custodian, with the help of the post, managed to deny the hosts the win as

Meanwhile, in the other games on the night, Tottenham Hotspur edged Newcastle United 1-0 to move into third spot with 74 points while Chelsea remain in fifth with 70.

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Liverpool are fourth with 72 points and considering they host Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield on Sunday, it would take a minor miracle to keep Chelsea’s hopes of Champions League football alive.

For the Reds have a far superior goal difference, which means even a draw would secure fourth spot for them.

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The Blues’ final fixture of the season is an away one, against Newcastle United.

Elsewhere, champions Manchester City returned to winning ways by seeing off Brighton 3-1, while Arsenal’s away woes continued as they slumped to a 1-3 loss at Leicester City.