Chelsea enter the second leg of their Quarter-Final tie with Slavia Prague at Stamford Bridge looking to book their place in the Europa League last four, having narrowly won away last Thursday.
Benfica or Eintracht Frankfurt await the winner of this tie in the semi-finals, potentially setting up a rematch of the 2013 final between Chelsea and Benfica if both get past this stage.
Team news
Chelsea will be without Antonio Rudiger who is sidelined with a knee injury and will miss their next two games.
Marco van Ginkel (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) and Ethan Ampadu (back) are long-term absentees.
There is no team news for Slavia Prague at time of writing.
Stat Attack
- This is the first meeting between these teams at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea having won the first leg 1-0 in Prague.
- Slavia Prague hasn’t won in four previous trips to England (D1, L3).
- Chelsea have drawn their last two home clashes with Czech Republic opposition since beating Viktoria Zizkov 4-2 in September 1994 in UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.
Prediction
After a falling to a tight defeat at Liverpool on Sunday, this is a good opportunity for Chelsea to get back to winning ways.
If Slavia Prague dig deep like they did last week, I fancy a home win here because the Blues will be too strong once they find an attacking rhythm and can afford to sit back here as they have little to lose but all to gain.
Prediction: Chelsea 2-0 Slavia Prague
Result: Chelsea 4-3 Slavia Prague (Chelsea win 5-3 on aggregate)
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