Chelsea FC are set to take on Russian side Krasnodar in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League tomorrow night and the main headline story here is the coronavirus. The global pandemic, also known as COVID-19 is of course the headline story everywhere and with everything right now, but in Russia it’s especially bad right now.
According to various newspaper reports, Chelsea will still train in Russia, despite the nation’s growing virus count. Bayern Munich, who also had a fixture at a Russian team, decided to stay home and train, and only make the trek to the country for the game itself.
Reportedly, Chelsea have inspected the facilities, and they found them satisfactory, from a public health and safety stand point. With that in mind, we can turn to the team news for this one, and we’ll start with the visitors. Frank Lampard has an almost fully fit squad to choose from here, with Scottish midfielder Billy Gilmour the only injury absentee.
It’s probably high time 2020 transfer addition Hakim Ziyech makes his full on, extended playing time debut with Chelsea. Perhaps he’ll even get the starting nod.
Said Lampard: “Hakim Ziyech is now looking like he is coming close to starting a game with his fitness.”
Turning to the hosts, they will once again be without the services of Viktor Claesson, who has a long term muscular injury.
Chelsea FC at Krasnodar UCL Group Stage FYIs
Kickoff: Wed. Oct 28, 5:55pm local
Chelsea Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
TV: BT Sport 3, Stream: BT Sport Monthly Pass
Odds: Chelsea win -240, Draw +360, Krasnodar win +650
Prediction: Chelsea 2, Krasnodar 1
After an ugly, goalless draw to begin their European campaign, Chelsea will be fired up to get a real result here.
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.