Chelsea took a gratuitously high-powered squad to Belarus to absolutely, positively, locked-down hand-to-deity earn three points. How dramatically will Maurizio Sarri’s gamble – and it is one – pay off?
Chelsea should be able to coast to an easy win against BATE Borisov with a partial squad. Considering who Maurizio Sarri took to Belarus, it should be an easy demolition. Hopefully PAOK and MOL Vidi will draw so Maurizio Sarri can relax down to two packs a day.
Abhishek Pancholi: BATE Borisov 0 – 2 Chelsea. A conservative prediction, mainly because it is usually much more difficult to master BATE away from the familiar confines of one’s home. A randomly shuffled Chelsea side will show all the cohesion expected from a FIFA 19 FUT team with a chemistry rating in the low 40s. Nevertheless, Olivier Giroud will finally get a goal from an outrageously acrobatic strike. Pedro will also add to his tally, before Eden Hazard aggravates his injury thanks to a poor challenge from one of the Tractor Boys.
Barrett Rouen: 0 – 5. For God’s sake. Chelsea are one of the best teams in the Premier League. Ruben Loftus-Cheek the goal machine will play, so book that for a couple. Then Callum Hudson-Odoi will maybe even get a little bit of time on the pitch so Chelsea can stop wasting his young Thierry Henry talent and things will be great. What is the point of a conservative prediction here? Chelsea win and if they don’t by miles it should count as a loss.
Hugo Amaya: 0 – 2. A slow game for Chelsea but not a difficult one. A couple of changes for the Blues will mean not 100% Sarrismo, but good enough to get a solid win. However, fatigue surely is starting to show in some players who really should be given time off on games like these. Chelsea will score a goal in each half, and spend the rest of the match passing around without much pressure. Giroud and Pedro on the scoresheet.
Scott Brant: 0 – 1. It should be a simple match, but then again nothing ever is simple with the Blues. With some players not making the trip, its hard to know what will happen. As long as they win, I will be focusing on how the players who don’t normally start perform. With Ruben Loftus-Cheek getting advice from Michael Ballack, I’m betting he scores and puts in a Ballack-esque Man of the Match performance.
Kevin Peacock: 0 – 3. Eden Hazard has made the trip to Belarus, which is ominous for BATE. It’s unlikely he’s made the trip to keep Willian’s seat warm on the bench. Hazard won’t need to be on the pitch long to influence the game.
Chelsea will all but seal a spot in the knock-out phase, scoring three goals (or more) for the fifth consecutive game. Hazard scores one and creates two for Olivier Giroud. The defence hold out, making Sarri happy with a nice clean sheet.