Chelsea could use a commanding win over PAOK to purge the memories of the loss at Tottenham. Hopefully, just such a win could be in the cards.
Chelsea welcome PAOK Salonika to Stamford Bridge for the first time in what should be an easy roll to secure the top of Group L. The Blues only need a point – either one they earn themselves or one dropped by MOL Vidi – to secure the top spot. Here are our predictions for how things should turn out.
Barrett Rouen: Chelsea 3 – 0 PAOK. Chelsea play some youth players and don’t play some of the jokes who embarrassed us against Tottenham. Callum Hudson-Odoi will play and be excellent because Bayern Munich will have forced through the idea that the rest of us already knew: he is one of the top five teen talents playing in Europe, and Chelsea are wasting him.
Scott Brant: 2 – 0. A 1-0 win would be amazing for Twitter trolling purposes. But after that lashing from Spurs, I would hope the Blues come out with a fire lit squarely beneath their butts. Fans can talk tactics till they are blue in the face – winning is what matters in the end. And since the Premier League title is well gone, I’m focusing on the Europa League. Alvaro Morata will score and maybe – just maybe – we get a Hudson-Odoi sighting. He’ll score and bring the spotlight to himself with a performance that stands out to everyone but the board.
Kevin Peacock: 3 – 1. Clone David Luiz four times, stick all of them in defence and Chelsea win this game. It won’t be pretty, but it will be comfortable. Perennial starter and potential captain Willian grabs one goal, Ruben Loftus-Cheek one and Olivier Giroud the other. Obviously, a lapse in concentration by one of the David Luiz’s see Chelsea concede, but still run out winners.
Brendan McDonnell: 4 – 0. After the sludge that was the 1-0 barn burner in Thessaloniki, plus the uninspiring effort this past weekend, I expect a full-on rout. I think Chelsea brings the absolute full Maurizio Sarri experience with something like 2,000 completed passes and 88% possession.
While I’m dying to see the youth, there’s been some backlash to Sarrismo and I think he wants everyone and everything back on track. Besides, future with Championship squad Fulham on deck, he can be free.
Abhishek Pancholi: 4 – 0. Don’t let the scoreline fool you. This will be a turgid affair, punctuated by flashes of individual quality from a couple of Chelsea players. Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ethan Ampadu will find themselves out of the starting lineup again. They’ll watch from the sidelines, as a disjointed Chelsea side huffs and puffs through the first half hour. Things pick up in the second half, but it’s mostly a case of the one-eyed man being king in the land of the blind.
Gabe Henderson: 2 – 0. The Blues have struggled to find the back of the net recently, and if the first contest against PAOK was any indicator, the second leg will be much of the same. The Blues essentially have the group locked up, but they’ll find the net a few times to secure first place and hopefully the youngsters will get some game time.
Unfortunately, just about every Chelsea fan has lost hope of rotation to this point, so expect Willian and Pedro on the wings. However, Hudson-Odoi will make an impact and a goal contribution almost as soon as he comes on. In the end, a tough battle, but easy victory for Chelsea.
Nate Hofmann: 2 – 0. So far this season, Maurizio Sarri’s overall philosophy on squad rotation has seemed to be the old adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it.” After the Spurs game, however, things appear to very much be broken, and it might be time to try some fresh blood. As the busy holiday schedule approaches, it will be important to keep the maximum number of players match-fit and up to speed. With Chelsea’s comfortable Europa League standing, this is as good a place as any to start rotating.
PAOK aren’t particularly special in any way, so this should be a great opportunity to let the second-teamers express themselves and play real Sarrismo without needing to worry too much about the opposition’s response. Expect the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Andreas Christensen to start. Goals for Olivier Giroud and Loftus-Cheek.