Chelsea – Lille
Chelsea faces Lille at the Stamford Bridge in London in a game from the last round of the Champions League group stage.
Group H of the competition is really, really interesting. Just look at the standings – Ajax and Valencia have 8 points each, while Chelsea follow with 7. Lille are last with one point. This means that if Chelsea beat Lille on Tuesday they will reach the 1/8-finals, no matter of the result between Ajax and Valencia in Amsterdam.
Two wins, two draws and one loss – this is Chelsea’s record in this group so far. Since their home loss against Valencia in the first round of the group stage, the Blues are unbeaten in four consecutive games.
In the previous round Frank Lampard’s boys made their fans excited with a ridiculous performance against Ajax. Chelsea were losing with 1-4 against the Dutch side, but managed to win a point after a 4-4 draw. It was truly marvelous thing to see, although we must mention that Ajax finished the game with 9 men on the pitch.
Lille don’t have chances for anything in this group now. The French team won just one point in their five games so far. They are the underdog in the group and they will play in London entirely for their own prestigie.
In the previous round the Dogs hosted Ajax at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, but conceded a 0-2 defeat. It seems that Christophe Galtier’s team was just not ready enough for this challenge and return to the Champions League. Lille were not competitive enough to the other three teams in the group.
We expect Chelsea to beat Lille and qualify for the 1/8-finals of the Champion League. Lampard’s boys won just one of their last four games, but we believe they will make a serious effort against the French side on Tuesday.