Football Results

Even though we are accustomed to seeing them in the Champions League for the last few years, Chelsea will play only in Europa League this season, and their first opponent in the group stage is the Greek vice-champion, PAOK from Thessaloniki, which was eliminated in the Champions League playoffs by the Portuguese Benfica. We should also add that this is the first clash between PAOK and Chelsea in history.

PAOK

This was a comeback for PAOK in the group stage of the Europa League after they two seasons ago reached the round of sixteen and were stopped by the German Schalke. Last year they were eliminated in the playoffs from Swedish Ostersunds, while as the current Greek’s vice-champions they were this season even able to win a historic placement in the group stage of the Champions League, but after Basel and Moscow Spartak’s elimination, they were stopped at the last obstacle by the Portuguese Benfica.

However, they had a great first match against them and recorded 1-1 in Lisbon, but they were obviously overwhelmed, so their rematch at home ended with as much as 4-1. Meanwhile, they made three safe victories in their domestic championship, so they are welcoming this match against Chelsea in a very good mood, which will only be missed by defender Matos, because of the red card he got in the match against Benfica.

Probable lineups PAOK Thessaloniki: Paschalakis – Kitsiou, Varela, Crespo, Vierinha – Mauricio, Canas – Limnios, Pelkas, El Kaddouri – Prijovic

Chelsea

We have already said for the popular “Blues” from London that they will not play the Champions League after a long time, since they have only finished fifth in the last championship season, so we will only watch them in Europa League in the next period. Of course, they are also the biggest favourites in this competition, which is not nearly as attractive as the Champions League, so it is quite understandable why coach Sarri has announced that he would send a combined team in the match against PAOK.

Otherwise, Chelsea has opened a new season with great success, and they made the same number of wins in the first five championship matches, and they are now deservedly on the leading position. So last weekend they practically with half of the strength defeated Cardiff at their Stamford Bridge with 4-1, and the shooter Hazard has even scored three goals. We should also add that defender Emerson and midfielders Fabregas, Kovacic, van Ginkel and Loftus-Cheek are currently on the list of injured players.

Probable lineups Chelsea: Caballero – Zappacosta, Christensen, Cahill, Alonso – Barkley, Ampadu, Drinkwater – Moses, Morata, Willian

Verdict:

Regardless of the fact that the guests from London will play in a combined set-up in this match, they continue to be big favourites against the Greek PAOK, mostly because of their much bigger experience on the European scene.

Pick: 2 Chelsea wins 1.83 - 83/100 @1XBet