Frank Lampard’s Chelsea face a tough trip to Russia as they take on Krasnodar at the Krasnodar Stadium in Group E of 2020-21 UEFA Champions League Group Stage.
Krasnodar enter this match sat top of the group by virtue of head-to-head away goals following a 1-1 draw at Rennes last week, whilst Chelsea sit bottom after a goalless draw against Sevilla in which they collected three yellow cards to the Spanish team’s two bookings.
Victory for Krasnodar will therefore keep them at the summit but a Chelsea win will see them climb into the top two knockout qualification positions.
Team News
Remy Cabella and Evgeniy Markov are ruled out for Krasnodar as they continue to self-isolate following positive Coronavirus tests.
Wanderson and Viktor Claesson are sidelined with muscle injuries whilst Rusian Kambolov and Aleksandr Cherkinov are doubts with unspecified injuries.
Chelsea have no fresh injury concerns to report as Kepa Arrizabalaga and Billy Gilmour remain absent with respective shoulder and knee injuries.
Stat Attack
- This is Krasnodar’s first-ever meeting against Chelsea in all competitions.
- Krasnodar are unbeaten in two previous matches against English opposition (W1, D1).
- Chelsea have won each of their last four meetings against Russian opposition (W4).
- Krasnodar have lost just one of their last four home European matches (W3, L1).
- Chelsea are unbeaten in three of their last four European away trips (W2, D1, L1).
Prediction
Krasnodar come into this game with a poor defensive record across their last eight matches in all competitions despite having a decent attack in contrast, which offers hope for Chelsea if they can tidy up their finishing because that aspect of their play was lacking at Manchester United on Saturday.
Chelsea however can take heart from their defensive showing because despite being carved open in various ways, they got stuck in to stop Man Utd from scoring with majority of midfield back helping on the flanks when required to earn a rare clean sheet.
Now if they can continue that quality but improve up front then I can see a routine victory and another clean sheet coming here for Chelsea.
Prediction: Krasnodar 0-2 Chelsea
Result: Krasnodar 0-4 Chelsea