PAOK vs Chelsea: Predictions for a comfortable Blues win in Greece

Chelsea face PAOK for the first time in history, hoping to maintain their perfect record this season and against Greek clubs. Here are our predictions for that outcome.

Chelsea are back in the Europa League, which means long flights and difficult-to-pronounce clubs. Fortunately, two of the Blues’ group stage opponents go by user-friendly acronyms, so we can get down to the business of predicting how things will go on the pitch.

Scott Brant: PAOK 0 – 3 Chelsea. Chelsea should handle PAOK with no real obstructions. Maurizio Sarri is off to an excellent start to the season, unbeaten, which will obviously continue. Look for some of the few players Sarri will rotate to make a difference. Hopefully a sighting of Callum Hudson-Odoi will remind everyone just how special he is, and the same for Ethan Ampadu.

Barrett Rouen: 0 – 3. If Chelsea don’t handle this with ease and class then it’ll be silly. They should get the youth on as well. Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ethan Ampadu must all play or it’s a loss regardless of outcome.

Abhishek Pancholi: 0 – 4. It’s a walk in the PAOK for Chelsea, who overpower their opponents without ever getting out of second gear. Alvaro Morata will get on the scoresheet, as will Ross Barkley and Willian. Yeah, that’s about it.

Kevin Peacock: 0 – 4. Maurizio Sarri will have been working his way towards a whole new starting XI this week. Those that slot into his side will be keen to show the manager what they can do. Sarri will be keen for a seamless integration and PAOK offer a perfect opportunity to bed some more players into his keep-ball system. Whilst the personnel change the song remains the same, with Chelsea cruising to a comfortable win. On the score-sheet: Alvaro Morata, Ross Barkley, and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Brendan McDonnell: Son of a… I absolutely had a Walk in the PAOK joke ready to roll as well.  Currently <checks Wikipedia> undefeated in the <checks again> Greek Superleague, PAOK is off to a fantastic start.

This game should absolutely be more about Chelsea and their influence than reacting to anything PAOK has to offer, even if Chelsea had to travel to the always dangerous

Nate Hofmann: 1 – 3. Based on how badly PAOK got bludgeoned at home against Benfica in their Champion’s League playoff (4-1), we can reasonably assume the Greek side packs far less heat on the pitch than their club president does.

The most important thing from a Chelsea perspective will be to see how the second-stringers have adapted to Sarrismo.  Callum Hudson-Odoi will be the star attraction, but a full 90 minutes for the likes of Loftus-Cheek, Ampadu, and Christensen would also be a welcome sight.

Expect a baby-giraffe-on-ice type of performance for the first half hour or so, but Chelsea’s quality should win the day fairly easily. Morata with two, Barkley with one, Fabregas with another.  Caballero with a howler (naturally).