Graham Potter had to wait a few extra days for his debut and has been tasked with helping Chelsea avoid losing their opening two matches for the first time ever. After the last round defeat to Zagreb and with Tuchel finding out he was to be sacked on the eve of his 100th game in charge, it’s no wonder the players couldn’t concentrate resulting in them getting turned over. However, a week in football is a long time and Salzburg will be facing a totally different beast.
The wealth of Champions League experience amongst the Chelsea squad will help their new manager in his first ever UCL match, Raheem Sterling will shoulder the goal scoring burden as he has netted 17 of his last 24 Champions League goals at home and he has never lost when scoring in the UCL (W18, D2). Chelsea’s League form isn’t great and has been inconsistent at best (W3, D1, L2) but a Stamford Bridge over the last 20 Champions League matches they’ve only lost once (W13,L6).
Salzburg are no pushovers as they contend their 4th straight campaign and after holding six-time champions AC Milan to a 1-1 draw last week, they’ll be heading to the Bridge in high spirits but weary of their dismal record against English opposition, losing the last five and failing to score in four of those games. The difference between the two sides could be Salzburg’s young star Noah Okafor, who has 6 goal contributions in his last 6 games (G5, A1), of which 2 of his last 3 goals have been the match opener.
Key stats
- Chelsea lost 3 of their last 5 games
- Salzburg are unbeaten in last 8 matches
- Chelsea lost once at home in previous 20 UCL games
