FC Krasnodar visits Chelsea FC tomorrow night for a UEFA Champions League group stage clash with essentially nothing on the line. Chelsea have already won the grouping, and Krasnodar is long eliminated.
So while this won’t be the most consequential UCL group stage game ever, it will see Chelsea going for five group stage wins in a row, for the first time since 2010-11, when they reached the tournament quarter-finals.
Chelsea FC vs Krasnodar UCL Group Stage FYIs
Kickoff: Tue. Dec 8, 8pm local, Stamford Bridge
Chelsea Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
TV: BT Sport 3, Stream: BT Sport Monthly Pass
Form Guide: Chelsea WWDWW, Krasnodar WWLLW
Team News
Defenders Dmitri Stotskiy and Sergey Petrov remain injured, and will miss out for FC Krasnodar. That duo is the only fitness concern for the visitors. As for the hosts, they have a nearly fully fit squad. Forward Hakim Ziyech picked up what looked like a hamstring injury during Chelsea’s come from behind home win in the league against Leeds United.
Manager Frank Lampard should provide an update on the severity of the situation surrounding the Morrocan shortly.
With the Chelsea squad being so close to fully fit, expect to see a lot of minutes handed out to second teamers in this one, as well as guys who only recently returned to full fitness and could really use the extra playing time right now.
Prediction: Chelsea 2, Krasnodar 1
The Blues won the reverse fixture, handily by a score of 4-0, and despite what should be a heavily rotated side, expect the Blues to cruise again here. However, we’re also predicting Kepa gets the start, so we can’t in good faith predict a clean sheet.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, 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,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.