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Chelsea, who are already certain to finish top in Champions League Group E, play Dinamo Zagreb at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.
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Meanwhile, their Croatian opponents are unable to qualify for the last 16, but remain in contention for the consolation prize of Europa League football.
Match preview
Graham Potter has taken to the Champions League like a duck takes to water, and Chelsea’s place in the knockout rounds was sealed with a 2-1 win over Red Bull Salzburg last week thanks to two stunners from Mateo Kovacic and Kai Havertz either side of the break.
Now three points clear of AC Milan at the top of the section, Chelsea are guaranteed to progress to the knockout stages as group winners given their superior head-to-head record over the Italian champions, and Potter will welcome the chance to prioritize next weekend’s Premier League showdown with Arsenal following his miserable return to the Amex Stadium.
The Englishman’s old employers taught their former boss a footballing lesson in a 4-1 humbling over the weekend, ending Potter’s nine-game run without defeat since taking the reins, but the Blues manager is still unbeaten in Europe and a good omen awaits him if he can extend that run to five matches.
No Chelsea manager since Roberto Di Matteo in 2011-12 has gone unbeaten in their first five Champions League matches in charge, and the West London club ended up being crowned continental champions that year, so there is more than one motivation for Potter to ensure that his side do not suffer their first home defeat of the season here.
Team News
Only one side in the history of the Champions League has ever done the double over Chelsea in the group stage, with Basel achieving the memorable feat in 2013-14, and precedent does not benefit Dinamo Zagreb’s chances of following in the Swiss giants’ footsteps.
The month of October has certainly been a Halloween horror show for Dinamo Zagreb, who enter Tuesday’s match having won just one of their last six games in all tournaments – the most recent of which ended in a 1-0 league defeat to podium hopefuls NK Osijek on Saturday.
In order to avoid finishing dead last in Group E, Zagreb must find a way to beat Chelsea while also relying on Milan to do them a favour by winning against Red Bull Salzburg, whom they are currently two points adrift of, but it has been 24 years since the visitors last won an away game in the Champions League.
Since overcoming Ajax 1-0 in 1998, Dinamo Zagreb have suffered 17 defeats from 20 away games in Europe’s top tier and must somehow attempt to make lightning strike twice after beating the Blues 1-0 in September, with Mislav Orsic haunting another London club after his previous exploits against Tottenham Hotspur.
Possible starting lineup:
| Chelsea | Dinamo Zagreb |
|---|---|
| Arrizabalaga, Kepa | Livakovic, Dominik |
| Silva, Thiago | Peric, Dino |
| Cucurella, Marc | Ristovski, Stefan |
| Koulibaly, Kalidou | Moharrami, Sadegh |
| Azpilicueta, Cesar | Misic, Josip |
| Havertz, Kai | Ljubicic, Robert |
| Mount, Mason | Ivanusec, Luka |
| Jorginho | Ademi, Arijan |
| Kovacic, Mateo | Baturina, Martin |
| Loftus-Cheek, Ruben | Orsic, Mislav |
| Sterling, Raheem | Petkovic, Bruno |
Probabilities
Chelsea = 61.7%
Draw = 24.6%
Dinamo = 13.7%
Prediction
Chelsea 1-0 Dinamo
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