Chelsea vs Valencia: Preview, Team News, Predicted XI and Score Prediction
With the international break finally over, Chelsea made a wonderful return to the Premier League with an emphatic 5-2 victory over Wolves away from home, thanks to a hat-trick from Tammy Abraham.
Having managed to steady the boat in the league after a series of lacklustre results, Frank Lampard is now set to turn his attention to the UEFA Champions League for the first time in his managerial career, with the Blues preparing to play host to Valencia on Matchday 1 at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues have been drawn together with Valencia, last year’s semi-finalists Ajax and previous season’s Ligue 1 runners-up LOSC Lille in Group H and the home fixture on Matchday 1 could be crucial in helping the Blues pick up the early momentum.
Chelsea enjoyed an unbeaten run en route to their Europa League glory under Maurizio Sarri last season and they will be hoping to make an impact on Europe’s elite stage this time around.
Intriguingly, all the 11 goals that Chelsea have scored in the Premier League this season have been delivered by English players, with Abraham currently the top-scorer with 7, followed by Mason Mount with 3.
Both the youngsters are currently enjoying their first full season at Stamford Bridge and despite a bright start to life on the domestic front under Lampard, it will be interesting to see how they respond to their first exposure on the biggest stage of it all – the UEFA Champions League.
Valencia, on the other hand, suffered a damaging 5-2 defeat at the hands of Barcelona in the La Liga this weekend and new manager Albert Celades will have his work cut out when his team makes the trip to West London to face a new-looking resurgent Chelsea unit on Tuesday night.
Turning the pages of the record books in the build-up to this Matchday 1 fixture, Chelsea have faced Valencia on 6 occasions in European competitions without suffering a defeat in any of those games, with the Blues winning three and drawing the rest.
More importantly, Valencia have won just 2 of their last 18 trips away to English clubs, with the most recent of those victories coming against Stoke City in the Europa League in 2012.
To that end, Chelsea are the outright favourites to come away with all three points from this clash, while Valencia will be looking to better their woeful record away from home against English clubs in European competitions.
Team News
Ruben Loftus-Cheek is ruled out with a calf injury, while fellow academy products Reece James and Callum Hudson-Odoi are yet to regain match fitness after returning from a spell on the sidelines.
Emerson Palmieri missed the game against Wolves on Saturday due to a thigh injury and it remains to be seen whether he returns to action in the Champions League fixture.
N’Golo Kante too wasn’t in the matchday squad for the weekend game and is expected to miss the midweek clash, with Kovacic and Jorginho likely to continue in a central midfield role.
Antonio Rudiger, who made a return from injury on Saturday, was substituted against Wolves and Lampard is likely to go in with Andreas Christensen, Fikayo Tomori and Kurt Zouma as his three centre-backs if he opts to continue with a back-three system.
Willian played the full ninety minutes against Wolves and Christian Pulisic, who was an unused substitute on the day, could make his return to the eleven.
Predicted XI
Kepa Arrizabalaga, Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen, Fikayo Tomori, Marcos Alonso, Cesar Azpilicueta, Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho, Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic, Tammy Abraham
Score Prediction
Chelsea 2-1 Valencia
Given the history and the home advantage that the Blues are set to enjoy, expect Lampard’s men to come away with a 2-1 win against the La Liga side.
