Dinamo Zagreb welcome Chelsea to Stadium Maksimir in Group E of 2022-23 UEFA Champions League.
With Red Bull Salzburg and AC Milan not in action until later on Tuesday evening, victory would see either Dinamo Zagreb or Chelsea go top for a few hours at minimum.
Team News
Dinamo Zagreb has no fresh injury concerns to report with a full squad available for selection, including ex Norwich striker – Josip Drmic,
Chelsea manager, Thomas Tuchel could hand Denis Zakaria his debut if the Swiss midfielder receives his work permit in time, having missed Saturday’s Premier League win over West Ham.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (jaw) is a doubt but N’Golo Kante (hamstring) remains ruled out.
Stat Attack
- This is Dinamo Zagreb’s first-ever Champions League meeting against Chelsea.
- Chelsea are visiting Zagreb for the first time in all UEFA competitions.
- Zagreb have lost four of six previous home matches against English opposition in all UEFA competitions this century (W2, L4).
- Chelse are playing Croatian opposition for the very first time in all UEFA competitions.
- Chelsea have won three of their last five opening away Group Stage matches in a Champions League campaign (W3, L2).
Prediction
Boasting an impressive attack which has scored 29 goals at home already this season, Dinamo Zagreb cannot be underestimated as a team full of confidence even if they’re underdogs in this group, yet have conceded 11 goals in all competitions.
Chelsea meanwhile haven’t been impressive on the road this season in which they scraped a league win at Everton, followed by defeats at Leeds then Southampton so there could be some nerves coming into this trip even though they should be favourites.
This match also represents Chelsea’s first match against Croatian opposition and on the road too, so I expect them to approach this as a fresh challenge, especially after a solid comeback league win over West Ham on Saturday.
With that in mind, I do expect goals here but if Chelsea can quickly suss out Dinamo tactically then I fancy an away win but Tuchel’s Blues need to put their recent poor away performances behind them mentally and focus on this encounter solely.
Prediction: Dinamo Zagreb 1-2 Chelsea
Result: Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 Chelsea