Chelsea face Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League round of 16 tonight in the first leg.
It presents Chelsea with a fairly pressure-free opportunity if they will, to put in a good performance and hopefully get a good result to bring Stamford Bridge back. I say no pressure, but with our fan base on social media, you can never be completely pressure-free at Chelsea. But in a sense, no one expects us to win the UCL this season, and I’m sure not many expect us to beat Dortmund, so expectations are low because of our poor form and results.
Whether that makes there any chance remains to be seen, but I might be in the minority again thinking we can knock out Dortmund here.
Dortmund were ranked second in their UCL group, only winning two games, drawing three and losing one.
However, in the Bundesliga, they are in third place just three points out of top spot after winning each of their last five games. They score a lot of goals, but they also concede a lot of freedom.
Obviously, we know your dangerous men, and Jude Bellingham is one of them. Although, it was reported yesterday that Youssoufa Moukoko is likely to be out for both legs after picking up an injury. That is great news for us.
They have a solid team but with good experience and quality. They line up with a back four, with Emre Can holding up front.
It will be interesting to see how they approach this game as Dortmund are also a team that like to have the most possession, just like Chelsea. I can’t see them changing their ethos and that might actually suit Chelsea.
We’ve had trouble playing against these low-blocking teams that sit back and let us control, we struggle to break them down and find opportunities. And with players like Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke, Joao Felix and Enzo Fernandez, we could really thrive with more space opening up attacking and playing more counter-attacking if you want. We have immense pace and vision now, we can really use that in this type of game.
It will be an interesting game for sure, and it is difficult to decide. But if Chelsea can go there and get a result, at least a draw, then we have a very good chance of knocking them out.
One would assume that both Denis Zakaria and Mateo Kovacic will be in line for the team, with Kovacic probably a bit ahead in terms of a starting spot.
So, with that in mind, here’s my predicted Potter Xl:
Obviously there is a fatigue issue for some of the players, like Thiago Silva and even Reece James. But I also think that Potter will be very interested in having a good performance in front of the world, who won’t have a lot of freedom to rest the players. He needs all the key players from him.
I hope Ben Chilwell is finally ready to go too, because Marc Cucurella needs to be taken out of the spotlight.
The midfield worries me because of the lack of defensive stability, but there really aren’t many other options yet.
I think we tied the first leg and won the second at Stamford Bridge! Come on, Chelsea!
