Opponent: Shakthar Donetsk
Venue: Donbass Arena
Chlesea travel to Ukraine to meet the current Ukrainian Premier League champions Shakthar Donetsk on Tuesday.
The Blues are in dominant form at the moment winning the last 6 matches since the 2-2 draw against Juventus but if anyone thought that the Ukranian outfit can be easily brushed aside by the ever improving Blues, here are some quick facts about Shakthar Donetsk.
- Shakthar are the current holders of the Ukranian Premier League. They won an impressive 25 matches in the league campaign,losing only once to garner 79 points out of a possible 90 last season.
- This season has been even more impressive as they have won all 12 of their matches, scoring an outstanding 38 goals in the process.Shakthar already leads the table by 12 points.
- Including last season, they are on an unbeaten streak of 28 matches in the league, winning 26 of them.
- Shakthar also has a Brazilian flavour to its side with as many as 9 Brazilians in the team,including the highly rated Willian.
The facts above prove that Shakthar Donetsk are no pushovers and the match being played at Ukraine makes this tie a lot more difficult for Chelsea. Shakthar also has a good record against English opposition at their home ground winning 3 out of the 4 matches played. All this proves that we are off to face a tough opposition and with the table interestingly poised, Chelsea has to come back with at least a point from Ukraine.
The match promises to be yet another encounter that promises a lot of goals. Chelsea have scored 4 in each of their last three matches and with Mata and Hazard in sublime form at the moment, goals will come. Our defense will be tested against the likes of the Armenian attacker Henrikh Mkhitaryan,Eduardo and Willian and getting back with a clean sheet will be really difficult. It all the more proves that this should be another match where we will need to take the attack to the opposition.
RDM will not want to lose the top position in the group, and with Juventus tipped to win against FC Norjaelland, RDM will certainly hope that the team comes away from Ukraine still at the top of the pile. Di Matteo will again be forced to choose his best XI for the encounter.Probable team for the match :
Cech
Luiz Terry
Ivanovic Cole
Ramires Mikel
Mata Oscar Hazard
Torres
The central midfield pairing of Ramires and Mikel seems to be the best for Chelsea and both were absolutely wonderful against Tottenham, with Mikel breaking up plays and Ramires thrusting forward whenever there was an opportunity. Torres missed a couple of good chances against Tottenham and will need to make amends for them. Having started all of Chelsea's matches so far, the Spaniard might be tiring and RDM might be thinking about giving a rest to him but with Sturridge just back from injury, I don't think he will risk it.I hope to see Marin playing at least as a substitute in the match but with the abundance of talent at his disposal, RDM might be having a hard time to select even the bench for the matches.
This is certainly going to be another encounter that promises end to end stuff from the two teams.
No comments:
Post a Comment