Chelsea FC host Lille tomorrow night needing a W, and some help, in order to go ahead to the knockout stages, but at least they have a very favorable match-up for doing so. Chelsea won the away fixture 2-1, getting goals from Willian and Tammy Abraham, and they’re heavily tipped to win this one too.
It could be a bit tricky, given the defensive struggles we’ve seen from Chelsea lately, but perhaps the return of Antonio Rudiger will provide a major boost. In looking at the lineup prediction for Tuesday night, expect manager Frank Lampard to make a couple changes.
Jorginho will likely return to the centre of the midfield, and we’re thinking Mateo Kovacic will probably get the drop in favor of him.
Kurt Zouma did the media opportunity with Lampard today and that’s usually a strong indicator of a starting nod. Here’s the rest of what we’re projecting.
Chelsea FC Starting XI Prediction (4-3-3) vs Lille UCL group stage
Pulisic Abraham Willian
Mount Jorginho Kante
Emerson Christensen Zouma Azpilicueta
Kepa
Chelsea FC vs Lille UCL Group Stage FYIs
Team news for both sides: go to this link
Kickoff: Dec. 10, 8pm Stamford Bridge
Form Guide: Chelsea- DDWWL Lille- LLDLL
Google’s result probability: 80% Chelsea win, 14% draw, 6% Lille victory
Prediction: Chelsea 3, Lille 0
The Blues will certainly be motivated here, but they’ll likely also need some help in the Valencia-Ajax result in order to move on.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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