Potter: “We are nearly there”
Chelsea can qualify for the knockout levels of the Champions League and win Group E tonight in the event that they defeat RB Salzburg on the Red Bull Arena. The Blues sit high of the group on seven factors with Salzburg only one behind which means whoever is victorious this night takes pole place going into the ultimate spherical of group video games. If it’s Graham Potter’s facet who win, they may also clinch the group offering Dinamo Zagreb don’t additionally beat AC Milan within the different fixture.
Chelsea haven’t misplaced since Potter took over as supervisor of the London facet. His first sport in cost resulted in a 1-1 draw with Salzburg earlier than he took the Blues on a five-game profitable run throughout all competitions, however their momentum has slowed due to consecutive attracts towards Brentford (0-0) and Manchester United (1-1) – with the United sport hurtful on account of Casemiro’s very late equaliser.
Going by the earlier encounter between these two groups in September, Chelsea ought to management most of tonight’s sport despite the fact that it’s being performed in Austria. They dominated, possessions and probabilities created just for Raheem Sterling’s opener to get cancelled out by Noah Okafor with quarter of an hour to play. However, Salzburg have solely misplaced as soon as this season – again in August – and won’t make this a straightforward night time for the Blues.
Follow all of the motion as Chelsea journey to RB Salzburg within the Champions League:
Can Chelsea win once more?
Graham Potter’s facet have gained their final two video games within the Champions League beating AC Milan 3-0 at house and 2-0 away.
The final time Chelsea gained three video games in a row within the competitors, by a minimum of a two objective margin, was in Oct/Nov 2013 when Jose Mourinho was in cost.
Michael Jones25 October 2022 17:32
RB Salzburg vs Chelsea
The heat ups are underway on the Red Bull Arena with kick off simply over quarter-hour away.
Michael Jones25 October 2022 17:28
Winning with the youngsters?
The common age of Salzburg’s beginning XIs within the Champions League this season is 22 years and 346 days: the youngest of any crew within the competitors this time period.
RB Salzburg have additionally scored precisely one objective in every of their final seven video games within the Champions League.
Michael Jones25 October 2022 17:24
Chelsea’s pre-World Cup fixture schedule ‘crazy’, Cesar Azpilicueta claims
Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta mentioned the variety of video games being crammed into the schedule forward of the World Cup subsequent month is “crazy” and that participant welfare is being jeopardised.
Azpilicueta’s crew mate N’Golo Kante has been dominated out of the World Cup after present process an operation on a hamstring damage, whereas Reece James is in a race to be match for the event after injuring his knee.
Chelsea have three league fixtures, two Champions League video games and a League Cup tie earlier than the World Cup in Qatar begins on 20 November.
Michael Jones25 October 2022 17:20
Will Chelsea attain the knockout rounds tonight?
Chelsea’s Champions League marketing campaign bought off to the worst doable begin this season once they misplaced 1-0 in Croatia to Dinamo Zagreb on the primary matchday of the group levels.
That loss resulted within the sacking of Thomas Tuchel and the appointment of Graham Potter as head coach who has since led the Blues to 2 wins and one draw from the following three video games.
Five groups are already by means of to the spherical of 16 – Bayern Munich, Club Bruges, Manchester City, Napoli and Real Madrid. Will Chelsea be part of them this night?
Michael Jones25 October 2022 17:15
Potter addresses issues over Chelsea’s attacking prowess
Since Graham Potter took over as supervisor of Chelsea the Blues have averaged 12.8 photographs per sport however that price has been significantly decrease of later and Potter was requested why he thinks that is the case.
“It’s a simple question to ask but a complex one to answer,” he mentioned. “There are lots of things I would say. We’ve had a couple of issues in losing Reece [James], [Kalidu] Koulibaly, and Wesley [Fofana] in terms of stability,
“Away matches off the back of away matches in the Champions League, tough places to go. So, it’s a combination of finding the right balance, a bit of a process in terms of not much training time between the games: I think we’ve had seven matches in the last three weeks.
“So when a lot of players are coming out for different reasons, we just need to find that stability and structure, but that is probably a bit more complex and has been a bit of the challenge as well.”
Michael Jones25 October 2022 17:10
Three in a row?
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is hoping to attain in three consecutive Champions League appearances for Chelsea having netted in each group matches versus AC Milan. If he’s profitable he would be the first participant to realize this feat for the Blues since Willian in 2015.
Michael Jones25 October 2022 17:04
More from Potter
Chelsea boss Graham Potter is targeted on profitable tonight and isn’t too preoccupied concerning the permutations to succeed in the latter stage of the event.
“It would be nice to win, absolutely, and there are consequences to winning,” he mentioned. “But our thoughts are just try to win the match, perform as well as we can.
“We understand how tough it’s going to be but we have to take the challenge and put ourselves in a good position. We’re not finished, we haven’t got enough points, we need to carry on, so that’s going to be the test. We’re looking forward to it.”
Michael Jones25 October 2022 16:57
Solid travellers
Since the beginning of 2020/21, Chelsea have gained 9 of their 13 away matches within the Champions League. Their solely defeats on the street in that point the place in Turin towards Juventus final September and towards Dinamo Zagreb earlier this season.
Michael Jones25 October 2022 16:52
Ruben Loftus-Cheek hopes improved kind and health will assist late World Cup bid
In-form Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek mentioned his bodily situation has by no means been higher as he revealed he lately spoke with tennis star Andy Murray about overcoming damage setbacks.
Loftus-Cheek has began 5 of the Blues’ final six video games below Graham Potter and retains hope of forcing his manner into England’s World Cup squad.
The 26-year-old, who’s getting ready to face RB Salzburg within the Champions League on Tuesday night, has endured a irritating, stop-start profession at Stamford Bridge amid quite a few health points.
But he’s as soon as once more threatening to lastly fulfil the potential which noticed him earn a spot on the 2018 World Cup, having been comparatively injury-free since getting back from a ruptured Achilles tendon in 2020.
Michael Jones25 October 2022 16:49
Source: www.impartial.co.uk