Chelsea travel to Panathinaikos in the Conference League on Thursday, October 24, with the game kicking off at 17:45 BST.
The venue will be Panathinaikos’ Olympic Stadium and the match will be available to view for UK viewers on TNT Sports 1.
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Panathinaikos vs Chelsea predicted XIs
- Panathinaikos: Dragowski; Kotsiras, Jedvaj, Ingason, Mladenovic; Maksimovic, Cerin; Pellistri, Bakasetas, Duricic; Jeremejeff
- Chelsea: Jorgensen; Disasi, Tosin, Badiashile, Veiga; Casadei, Dewsbury-Hall; Neto, Felix, Mudryk; Nkunku
Team news:
Fotis Ioannidis (adductor) and Hordur Magnusson (knee) are confirmed absentees for the home side, while Dimitris Limnios, Zeca and Tonny Vilhena are not part of the Conference League squad.
Andraz Sporar missed the weekend win at OFI with an illness and that could mean Alexander Jeremejeff leads the line again after he enjoyed a first start since August in that game.
Highly-rated Brazilian winger Tete, who joined from Galatasaray in the off-season, was the weekend matchwinner there, but he did not start in the opening Conference League game.
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Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana are the other big-name omissions alongside Palmer from Chelsea’s current continental squad.
Reece James was back in the starting XI against Liverpool, but is likely to be left out, with Axel Disasi or Malo Gusto in contention for the full-back role.
Christopher Nkunku got a rare start and a goal against Gent and may lead the line again, while Pedro Neto, Joao Felix and Mykhaylo Mudryk are other fringe attacking options likely to be deployed.
Chelsea boss Maresca took some positives despite seeing his side go down 2-1 at Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday.
The Stamford Bridge boss insisted he ‘really liked the performance’ he witnessed against the Reds at Anfield.
After a run of five wins in all competitions, it was, though, a second successive Premier League game without a victory, following the 1-1 home draw with Nottingham Forest before the international break.
He takes his troops to Greece minus the services of star man Cole Palmer, the England playmaker having been omitted from the squad list for the league phase in the Conference League.
Maresca believed the Anfield showing deserved to be labelled ‘one of the best of the season’ and felt it was a sure sign that his side were going in the right direction.
The Blues have four wins and two draws in previous meetings with Greek opposition, though this will be their first showdown with Pana.
The hosts ended a three-game winless run by beating OFI 1-0 away from home in the Greek Super League at the weekend, an emotional success for the players following the recent passing of George Baldock.
It was a third of the league season for the Greens and enough to leave Diego Alonso’s side sitting in sixth, five points behind joint-leaders Aris Thessaloniki and PAOK after eight games.
Chelsea fielded a much-changed side in their opening 4-2 win over Gent at Stamford Bridge this month and Maresca is likely to make plenty of changes once more.
Pana led through Anastasios Bakasetas’ goal and dominated for long spells at Bosnian side Borac Banja Luca in their opening game but were held to a 1-1 draw.
They are on a four-game unbeaten run on their own patch, but have lost 11 of their 18 previous meetings with English opponents, winning just once.