UEFA Europa League 2018/19: Matchday 2
- Chelsea V Videoton
- Venue: Stamford Bridge
- Date: Thursday 04 October
- Kick-off time: 5:55pm BST
Chelsea can move another step closer to early qualification for the knockout phase of the Europa League when they play host to Hungarian champions Videoton on Thursday night.
The Blues made a perfect start to their European campaign by seeing off PAOK two weeks ago and now have Group L top spot, currently occupied by BATE, in their sights.
With Vidi being the fifth lowest UEFA coefficient of all group-stage qualifiers, Sarri will surely use this match as a chance to rotate his side on the back of a gruelling few weeks. Willy Caballero is in line for a second start of the season, a week on from featuring in the EFL Cup win at Liverpool, while Gary Cahill and Andreas Christensen are options in the heart of a defence.
There are question marks over the fitness of Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Pedro, who are suffering from a calf and shoulder injury respectively, and both men are expected to sit this one out. Having lost his place to Olivier Giroud over the past month, Alvaro Morata looks certain to start through the middle, and Victor Moses can also expect a recall in his more advanced wing position.
In terms of the visitors, Nikolic made two changes to his starting lineup for the 1-0 win at Diosgyor on Sunday, bringing in Mate Patkai and Paulo Vinicius for Georgi Milanov and Boban Nikolov. The 39-year-old must now decide whether to stick with a winning formula or make changes, knowing that Chelsea will dominate possession at Stamford Bridge.
Skipper Roland Juhasz, who is part of Vidi's travelling party, made his debut for former club Anderlecht in a 1-0 Champions League loss at Stamford Bridge in September 2005.
Possible Line-Ups:
Chelsea: Caballero; Emerson, Christensen, Cahill, Zappacosta; Fabregas, Ampadu, Barkley; Moses, Morata, Hudson-Odoi
Videoton: Tujvel, Juhasz, Fiola, Nego, Stopira, Huszti, Hadzic, Milanov, Kovacs, Nikolov, Scepovic
Betting & Match Odds
Chelsea are
priced at odds of winning 1.109 according to VBet, while a draw is available at 11.00. A win for Videoton are
priced at 19.00.
Click here to see all of VBet’s offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more.
