Entering this past weekend’s Premier League headliner fixture, where Chelsea lost to Manchester City, a lot of the talk was about how City boss Pep Guardiola might get too cute again with his tactics for that match.
Turns out it might have been Blues boss Thomas Tuchel who got too creative for his good, and maybe overthought it all. He doesn’t have long to ruminate, because he comes mighty Juventus, in European competition, and it’s an opportunity for the German to make sure he gets his tactics right.
Chelsea FC at Juventus FYIs (Champions League)
Kickoff: Wed Sept 28, 8pm Juventus Stadium
Chelsea Team News: go here
Odds of winning: Juventus 4.20 Chelsea 1.90
Form Guide: Juventus WWDWL Chelsea: LWWWW
Key Stat: Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in 6 of their last 8 UCL matches
This will probably a great opportunity for Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech to come back into the first team, while Cesar Azpilicueta slots over to the wing back as cover for Reece James, who is a doubt here. The other guys who are questionable to play, Mason Mount and Jorginho, will likely be rested, we predict. Well, or at least we did, until N’Golo Kante contracted covid, and he’ll now have to sit out this one out.
There seems to be a clamor on social media, among a sizable contingent of Chelsea supporters, to hand Ruben Loftus-Cheek a start here, but we don’t think that’s going to happen.
Chelsea Predicted XI (3-4-2-1): Edouard Mendy; Andreas Christensen, Thiago Silva, Antonio Rudiger; Cesar Azpilicueta, Marcos Alonso, Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho; Hakim Ziyech, Kai Havertz, Romelu Lukaku
Prediction: Chelsea 1, Juventus 0
Look for the London club to bounce back in a big way here, and keep their European title defense chugging along on the right track.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “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 and the Chicago Tribune.
He co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.