Chelsea face FC Krasnodar in their second group stage match in Group E of UEFA Champions League. Chelsea will be looking to grab all 3 points to secure a higher place in the group after a goal-less draw against Sevilla in their first match. Now the team travels to Russia for their away game against Kras in an early kick-off on Wednesday.
FC Kras is a Russian League club who finished 3rd in the previous season and did enter the group stage passing through the qualifying stage. They got better of PAOK in the Qualifying stage and were drawn in Group E along with Chelsea. In the first week, they earned a point against Rennes but were on a receiving end of 3-1 defeat against Victor Moses inspired Spartak Moscow at the weekend. They are facing a number of injury concerns and sit at the 8th position in the Russian League.
Major problem for Chelsea has to be the travel issues as they have to fly to Russia in a fixture packed season. This week they face 3 consecutive away matches including their goal-less draw against Man U at Old Trafford on Saturday and an upcoming affair against Burnley at Turf Moor. We could expect high rotation by Frank to manage minutes.
Frank will look not to lose anything in this fixture. He will go to big win and also show some defensive solidarity. Rotations can be expected but this being a UCL match, Frank will go strong to take no pressure.
SQUAD
Chelsea have released their squad that took a flight to Russia. Notable outs include Silva who has been rested for the game, Kepa still out due to his shoulder injury and Alonso completing his 3 match suspension.
In Kepa’s absence, Academy goalkeeper Karlo Ziger is included so the squad for game against Krasnodar, in shirt number order, is:
Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen, Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Tammy Abraham, Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner, Willy Caballero, Fikayo Tomori, Kurt Zouma, Edouard Mendy, Mateo Kovacic, Olivier Giroud, Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ben Chilwell, Hakim Ziyech, Reece James, Cesar Azpilicueta, Kai Havertz, Emerson Palmieri, Karlo Ziger.
Match Details
Matchday 2, Group E, UEFA Champions League
Wednesday, 28 October’20
K/O: 18:25 GMT
Predictions
Frank will go back to his preferred 4 at the back formation and go all-out attack from the first minute. Expecting a few changes to manage minutes for likes of Kai and Chilwell could be seen and also this could be an opportunity for likes of Rudiger, Tomori, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Giroud and Abraham to shine. Many youngsters have a point to prove and this could be the best opportunity for them.
Expected Chelsea Line-up: Mendy; Azpi, Zouma, Tomori, Emerson; Jorginho, Kovacic, Mount; Odoi, Giroud, Ziyech
Expect Ziyech to either start or come off the bench. He looks fit to play and could be crucial in the game. With Thiago Silva out, it is interesting to see who amongst Tomori, Christensen and Rudiger gets the not
Score Predictions: FC Krasnodar 0-3 Chelsea FC
