(Football news) Chelsea are taking a trip to Croatia to face Dinamo Zagreb in their opening match of the UEFA Champions League. The Blues qualified for Europe’s top flight club competition after finishing third in the Premier League last season while Dinamo Zagreb went through three qualifying rounds in order to compete in the competition. Thomas Tuchel’s team have been far from convincing in their opening fixtures domestically but are only one point behind Liverpool and four points behind reigning champions Manchester City.
One of the most worrying aspects about Chelsea’s form is their defence as the Blues have conceded nine goals (should have been 10 if not for the bad VAR decision) in five games and Tuchel will need to decide if he wants to opt for a back three or a back four for this fixture. To make matters worse, the Blues have lacked potency in attack but with Kai Havertz scoring his first goal of the season, Tuchel will hope that the German will start firing on a regular basis.
Despite the fact that Dinamo Zagreb are the obvious underdogs in this fixture, the team defeated West Ham United and Sevilla in last year’s UEFA Europa League and reached the quarter-finals of the competition in the 2020/21 season. Chelsea will take encouragement from the fact that the Croatian side have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 10 games but Dinamo Zagreb is also a team that is hard to defeat with their last loss coming in December. In team news, Dinamo Zagreb manager Cacic is expected to select the same team that defeated Norwegian club Bodo/Glimt 4-1 and Mislav Orsic will be a player to watch out for as the 29 year old has scored 8 goals so far.
As for Chelsea, Tuchel might select Kepa Arrizabalaga over Edouard Mendy while Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic should feature in midfield. Ben Chilwell is expected to be picked over new signing Marc Cucurella while Mason Mount and Havertz will also feature. The German manager has confirmed that new signings Denis Zakaria and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are available for selection while Thiago Silva will not feature after being rested. Anything but a win for Chelsea would be an upset from this fixture.
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