Chelsea’s thrashing of Crystal Palace in this past Saturday’s London derby was very promising for a whole host of reasons, but it was really encouraging to at last see both Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic score in the same game. The most expensive German player of all-time and the costliest American ever have both struggled this season.
Pulisic, however, has started a mini-hot streak, and if he keeps it up, perhaps he’ll duplicate his Project Restart purple patch soon. As for Havertz, maybe this is the goal that gets him finally turned around?
Chelsea vs FC Porto UCL Quarterfinal Leg 2/2 FYIs
Aggregate: Chelsea leads 2-0
Kickoff: Tue April 14, 8pm, Stamford Bridge
Team News for both sides: go here
Head to Head: Chelsea win 6 Draw 2 FC Porto Win 1
Odds: Chelsea win -120 Draw +270 FC Porto Win +320
Fast Fact: Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in 7 of their last 9 Champions League matches
We predict both will feature in a coming off the bench role tomorrow night when Chelsea hosts FC Porto in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal clash. We also believe N’Golo Kante will be limited to bench minutes in this clash.
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel spoke openly about the French midfielder’s current fitness situation (hamstring), and it appears a late assessment tomorrow will determine how much he’ll play on Tuesday night.
“Normally it is hard to imagine a game like this without NG, but at the same time we need to be absolutely careful about him and that we don’t take risks with his health and with his injury situation,” the German said.
“The question tomorrow is whether we want him to start or whether we want him to finish the game because there is also the possibility that it will go to 120 minutes.
“This is the question and honestly it is not answered yet, I will do this tomorrow morning.”
Chelsea Starting XI Prediction vs FC Porto: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Silva, Christensen; James, Kovacic, Jorginho, Alonso; Ziyech, Mount; Giroud
Prediction: Chelsea 2, Porto 1 (Chelsea advances 4-1 on aggregate)
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.