Chelsea’s journey to reclaim the European title kicks off on Tuesday when they travel to Croatia to face Dinamo Zagreb.
A tense win over West Ham was a welcome relief from Chelsea’s difficult start to the season, and the Blues cannot afford to let those frustrating performances continue into Europe.
Zagreb is unbeaten in its eight league games this season and has lost just once since February in all competitions.
Chelsea has confirmed that neither Thiago Silva nor N’Golo Kante has traveled to Croatia.However, potential debutants Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Denis Zakaria are in the squad, though neither is expected to play just yet, as is young midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka.
Dinamo Zagreb vs Chelsea Current Form (Last Five Games)Dinamo Zagreb: LWWWW (five wins, losing 1)Chelsea: DLWLW ( 2 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw)
Ante Cacic is expected to field a lineup similar to the one that defeated Bodo/Glimt in the European qualifiers, after resting several starters in the recent victory over Rijeka.
Chelsea predicted lineup vs Dinamo ZagrebMendy; Fofana, Koulibaly, Cucurella; James, Jorginho, Kovacic, Chilwell; Mount, Sterling; BrojaBench: Kepa, Bettinelli, Azpilicueta, Chalobah, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek, Gallagher, Pulisic, Ziyech, Havertz, Chukwuemeka
Dinamo Zagreb predicted lineup vs ChelseaLivakovic; Ristovski, Sutalo, Peric, Ljubicic; Spikic, Ademi, Ivanusec, Orsic; Petkovic, BaturinaBench: Nevistic, Zagorac, Dilaver, Stefulj, Moharrami, Lauritsen, Misic, Marin, Drmic, Emreli