Chelsea and Barcelona meet in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday evening, with both teams having picked up seven points from four games so far in Europe.
They were both involved in high-scoring away draws in Gameweek Four – Chelsea held 2-2 at Qarabag, while Barcelona came from behind three times in Belgium against Club Brugge.
Chelsea and Barcelona have split their previous 14 UEFA competition meetings, each side claiming four wins to go along with six draws.
Chelsea predicted lineup vs Barcelona
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; James, Adarabioyo, Chalobah, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Neto, Joao Pedro, Garnacho; Delap.
Chelsea team news vs Barcelona
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca remains without the services of Romeo Lavia, Levi Colwill and talisman Cole Palmer.
After a busy international break with Ecuador, midfielder Moises Caicedo was rested for Saturday’s 2-0 win at Burnley but the influential 24-year-old is likely to be restored to the starting side now. Wesley Fofana was not part of the squad at Turf Moor but should return to the matchday panel on Tuesday.
Brazilian midfielder Andrey Santos is one yellow card away from a Champions League suspension.
The Blues have trips to Italy to face Atalanta and Napoli, either side of hosting Pafos at Stamford Bridge in their remaining games in the league phase.
Blues hoping to replicate Premier League form in Europe
Chelsea go into this game in decent form, with Maresca’s side aiming to make it nine wins in their last 11 games in all competitions.
Their Champions League form perhaps doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny, however. In West London they have beaten former boss Jose Mourinho and his Benfica side 1-0 and thumped Ajax 5-1, aided by an early red card for the Eredivisie outfit before they also conceded two penalties.
Ajax and Benfica enter matchday five as the only sides amongst 36 in the Champions League without a single point on the board.
On the road, Chelsea were beaten 3-1 by Bayern Munich in their opener while they squandered an early lead and had to come from behind in a 2-2 draw with Qarabag most recently.
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They have kept three Premier League clean sheets surrounding that game, though they faced tepid opposition in the form of Tottenham, Wolves and Burnley.
They will, though, sense a chance to attack as they face a Barcelona side that earned a first clean sheet in 11 games as they disposed of 10-man Athletic Bilbao on Saturday. The Londoners meanwhile have scored in their last 19 European games.
The Catalan giants don’t have a great record at Stamford Bridge, winning just one of the seven UEFA competition clashes played here, with Chelsea landing four wins and two draws.
The Blues can also call on a superb home record in group/league matches on their own patch, with two defeats in the last 61 games and none since September 2019.
An entertaining tussle looks to be on the cards at Stamford Bridge between these European powerhouses.
