The Top Flight
Fansided

UEFA Europa League: Chelsea turn their attention to Europe

By John Wozniak

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 21: Callum Hudson-Odoi of Chelsea controls the ball during the UEFA Europa League Round of 32 Second Leg match between Chelsea and Malmo FF at Stamford Bridge on February 21, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 21: Callum Hudson-Odoi of Chelsea controls the ball during the UEFA Europa League Round of 32 Second Leg match between Chelsea and Malmo FF at Stamford Bridge on February 21, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 3
Next
Chelsea Europa League Favourites
LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 21: Maurizio Sarri of Chelsea looks on during the UEFA Europa League Round of 32 Second Leg match between Chelsea and Malmo FF at Stamford Bridge on February 21, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) /

January and February were difficult months for Chelsea.  First came two heavy defeats to Bournemouth and Manchester City, respectively. The goalkeeping debacle, involving Kepa Arrizabalaga in the League Cup Final, capped off Chelsea‘s fourth defeat in seven games.

Thursday‘s game is an opportunity for Sarri to select a strong side capable of scoring goals and taking a good advantage into the second leg. Chelsea come into the game on the back of two wins when a resolute performance at Craven Cottage followed a 2-0 win against Tottenham Hotspur.

"We are lucky, we have no injuries. Of course we have some players very tired because the last week was very hard. We started with 130 minutes in the Carabao Cup final so it was a very hard and we need to consider this situation very well and we may need to rest some players (via chelseafc.com)"

Kiev are second in the Ukrainian Premier League, seven points behind Shakhtar Donetsk. Head coach Aleksandr Khatskevich is contracted to the club until June 2019.

Formed in 1927, Kiev are nicknamed Bilo-Syni (White-Blues). Kiev’s biggest home win in European football came in a Champions League qualifier when they hammered Welsh side Barry Town 8-0 in 1998 (via uefa.com).

Team News

Chelsea Team News: Chelsea don‘t have any injury worries. Sarri is expected to rotate his squad. David Luiz could start the game, he missed Sunday‘s trip to Craven Cottage.

Kiev Team News: Benjamin Verbic is suspended for the trip. Viktor Tsygankov has been an important member of the Kiev squad, he’s scored 11 goals with four assists in all competitions.

Match odds

Chelsea 3/10 for the win
Kiev 9/1
Draw 4/1

Home/Europa League