Chelsea welcome Djurgardens IF back to Stamford Bridge for the second leg of their Conference League semi-final on Thursday night.
Enzo Maresca‘s side are virtually already through to the final after a commanding 4-1 win in Sweden last midweek, with a showdown against Real Betis or Fiorentina on the horizon later this month in Wroclaw.
Match preview
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With astonishing odds of 1/1000 to progress to the final, it is safe to say that Chelsea are home and dry in this semi-final tie, that they were huge favourites to advance from even before the first leg last week.
Goals from Jadon Sancho and Noni Madueke had the Blues in control at the interval, before substitute Nicolas Jackson added another two to put Chelsea 4-0 up on the road, and Isak Alemayehu‘s consolation will do little to turn the tide.
There will be feelings of deja vu for the Chelsea supporters, as they also took a three-goal lead back home for the second leg of their quarter-final tie with Legia Warsaw last month, and even though they lost at the Bridge that night, it had little impact on the outcome of the tie.
Confidence will be high in the home camp too, because Chelsea come into the return leg on the back of four straight wins, after seeing off champions Liverpool 3-1 at the weekend in the Premier League to strengthen their charge for the Champions League.
Maresca’s men will go into their trip to Newcastle United at the weekend inside the top five, so the majority of their focus will be on that, as the manager will hope to get through this second leg with minimal fuss.
The way the first leg went suggests that all will go to plan, and the fact that Chelsea have won their last three home games against Swedish opposition without conceding.
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Facing the same task Legia did heading to the Bridge, Djurgarden will hope they can put in a similarly respectable showing, and potentially even snatch a result, after the humbling they received on home soil last week.
However, for Jani Honkavaara‘s men, they will be focused solely on improving on a poor start to the Allsvenskan season, which has been caused slightly by their involvement in Europe.
No Swedish team has ever won 11 matches in a European season before, and the visitors could hit that mark if they are successful here, but Honkavaara will more than likely be focused on lifting them out of the bottom half of the Swedish top flight.
A 1-1 draw with AIK on Sunday means they have not won any of the three league games that have followed a European tie since their season got underway in March, and across the start of the season as a whole, they have just eight points from a possible 18.
Team News
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Maresca is in the same boat as he was heading into the second leg against Legia, but after still picking a strong XI for that defeat, he may be tempted to rotate more for this one, especially with an important trip to Newcastle on the horizon.
Josh Acheampong was the only youngster in XI that faced Legia at home, but Tyrique George is also in line to start this one, while Shumaira Mheuka and Mathis Amougou will hope to be promoted from the bench.
Christopher Nkunku has joined Wesley Fofana and Marc Guiu on the sidelines with injury, and the returning Romeo Lavia is not registered to play in the Conference League, so will be kept back for the trip to St James’ Park.
Djurgarden will be without their starting goalkeeper Filip Manojlovic, who is not registered to play in Europe, while Malkolm Nilsson is also out with an elbow injury, so Jacob Rinne is set to take his place between the sticks again.
Zakaria Sawo, teenager Matias Siltanen and the experienced Albin Ekdal are also unregistered, while Honkavaara is without numerous more first-team players due to injury, which led them to only naming seven substitutes, instead of 12, last week.
Patric Aslund, Oskar Fallenius, Nino Zugelj, Rasmus Schuller and Piotr Johansson add to the absentee list which will be in double figures for this trip to London.
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Jorgensen; Acheampong, Badiashile, Tosin, Gusto; James, Amougou, Dewsbury-Hall; Sancho, Mheuka, George
Djurgardens IF possible starting lineup:
Rinne; Stahl, Larsson, Danielson, Kosugi; Finndell, Stensson, Gulliksen; Haarala, Nguen, Priske
We say: Chelsea 2-1 Djurgarden
Chelsea simply just need to get the job done, so do not expect a vintage performance from the hosts, but they will do enough to book their ticket to Wroclaw.
Djurgarden will always remember their first tie against English opposition, as reaching the semi-finals of a European competition is a remarkable achievement, but even snatching a result from this second leg looks unlikely, with so many players unavailable.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
