UEFA Champions League: Wednesday, 8:00pm
Chelsea will make the trip to North Rhine-Westphalia on Wednesday to take on Borussia Dortmund in their first competitive match against the German outfit.
They will arrive in a run of form which has seen them win just once this calendar year.
Graham Potter’s time has not gone smoothly to date and results have been hard to come by. Performances have not been there yet for Potter, who has struggled to get his ideas across to the huge squad.
Chelsea have no distinctive style under Potter as yet, surprising when his efforts at Brighton produced such a distinctive playing pattern.
The Blues have been tough to beat, though, with a credible 0-0 draw at Liverpool and narrow 1-0 defeat at Chelsea on their recent record.
They are sure to provide stern resistance against a Dortmund team who are flying in 2023.
Since the winter break Dortmund have won all six of their games, including a 5-1 demolition of fourth-placed Freiburg earlier this month.
Sitting third in the table, just three points behind Bayern Munich, Edin Terzic is eyeing a title tilt, but their focus will be on Chelsea on Wednesday.
Traditionally they are strong at home in the competition; they have lost only four of their last 21 home matches. However, three of those defeats have been against English opposition.
And Dortmund have struggled against English teams, losing eight of their last 10 games against Premier League opposition. Although they did earn a goalless draw with Manchester City on home soil in October.
Terzic will not be too hung up on that after building an environment at Dortmund encompassing the whole squad.
The strength in depth at Dortmund has paid dividends recently, with Terzic often turning to his bench to open games up. He did exactly that in the weekend’s 2-0 win over Werder Bremen.
“It’s the quality of the squad,” Terzic said during his post-match press conference. “We’ve emphasised that on several occasions. There are guys who start the game for us; there are guys who finish the game; and there are guys who decide the game for us.
“It’s the 10th time in the Bundesliga that the guys off the bench have been able to score. We’ve seen it in the Champions League and the Pokal as well.
“It’s extremely important that we can react to all the circumstances in the game. We hope we can continue to rely on such a strong bench.”
Terzic, though, will look at Potter’s bench with envy at Signal Iduna Park as he looks for a similar resilient performance they put in against City in October.
City missed a penalty that night, but Dortmund had a real threat especially in the first half.
Chelsea will be tough to break down. One goal conceded in their last four games shows where their emphasis has been in the last few weeks. And chances could be few and far between in Germany.
Key stats
- Borussia Dortmund have won 100% of their games (six) in 2023 across all competitions
- Sevilla and Man City both earned draws at Dortmund in the CL this season
- Chelsea have won just one of their last eight games in all competitions
- Chelsea have drawn their last three games in the Premier League
- Chelsea lost one of their six CL group games – away at Dinamo Zagreb
