Preview: Chelsea vs Krasnodar | Champions League | OneFootball

Chelsea welcome Krasnodar to Stamford Bridge in the Champions League on Tuesday night, with squad rotation expected after securing their qualification for the last-16 in their previous outing.

The Blues are on a superb run of form and produced yet another top display to defeat Leeds 3-1 in the Premier League on Saturday evening.

Meanwhile Krasnodar are also expected to rotate after securing Europa League qualification with victory over Rennes in their last group stage fixture.

Recent Form:

Chelsea- WWDWW

The Blues are unbeaten in their last five and are playing with real confidence, with comprehensive victories over Leeds and Sevilla showing the vast improvement to the opening of the campaign.

Now qualification is secure, Frank Lampard has the option to rotate his squad and use some younger players with Billy Gilmour and Timo Anjorin potentially set to feature, and the Blues can try to keep their momentum going ahead of another important clash with Everton at the weekend.

With other fringe set players set for game time, Lampard will hope that the confidence gained from the results in recent weeks, can carry over to the whole squad as he searches for the balance between consistency and fitness during the busy Christmas period, in addition to maintaining a charge in both the Premier League and Champions league this campaign.

Krasnodar-WWLLW

The Russian outfit are in a mixed run of form with an impressive win against Rennes securing their progression to the Europa League for a side currently sitting 8th in their domestic league.

Team News:

Chelsea will be without Callum Hudson-Odoi and Hakim Ziyech for Tuesday’s clash after both suffered a hamstring injury, and are awaiting scans to find out the extent of the damage.

Billy Gilmour will start the clash against Krasnodar in midfield, while Kepa Arrizabalaga is likely to begin the match between the posts for the Blues with heavy rotation expected.

The visitors will be without Dmitri Stotskiy and Sergey Petrov, both of whom are getting closer to a return to action.

Prediction:

The Blues are like to be heavily rotated ahead of the Stamford Bridge clash, but will have some real quality coming in to replace the first team regulars such as Billy Gilmour, Jorginho and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

With keeping momentum going the key factor for this fixture, Lampard’s men will want to remain unbeaten, and put on a good display with fans present and the opportunity for fringe players to make a statement in an extremely competitive squad.

Chelsea should have enough for Krasnodar who will be sure to enjoy the occasion, but struggled in the previous fixture in Russia.

Prediction: Chelsea 3-0 Krasnodar

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