Chelsea FC and Ajax have both taken six points from the first half of Champions League group stage play, with the English side sitting higher than the Dutch club by virtue of their 1-0 win in Amsterdam a couple weeks ago.
Now comes the rematch in London on Tuesday night, and it’s a battle of the two sides that will likely go through to the knockout round from group H. A win here, for either club, essentially gets then through to the next round with little, if any, work to do in the last two group stage games. So let’s preview this match by sorting through the team news, starting with the Blues.
Midfield maestro N’Golo Kante is back in contention, having finally recovered from a groin injury that flared up around the last international break.
However, Jorginho is suspended for domestic competition, so with his absence on the weekend coming up, Kante may just be saved for the league match against Crystal Palace on Saturday. Or perhaps the French international will play limited minutes
Central defender Andreas Christensen and midfielder Ross Barkley are both making a push to get back into the team, but it remains to be seen how many changes Frank Lampard would actually elect to make here. As he’s said, he’s not going to rotate for the sake of rotating.
So you can probably expect Christian Pulisic, who took a long time to fight for and get his place in the team, to keep it. The American scored his first Chelsea goal (along with two more) on October 26, and then followed that up by scoring again this past weekend as Watford.
Chelsea FC Starting XI Prediction vs Ajax:
Abraham
Pulisic Mount Willian
Kovacic Jorginho
Alonso Tomori Christensen Azpilicueta
Kepa
Chelsea FC vs Ajax FYIs
Kickoff: November 5, 8pm Stamford Bridge
Form Guide: Chelsea WWD Ajax LWW
Google’s result probability: 50% Chelsea FC win, 25% Draw, 25% Ajax victory
Prediction: Chelsea FC 2, Ajax 0
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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