Chelsea seek relief from Premier League woes vs. Malmo in Europa League

Chelsea shift their attention to Malmo and the Europa League on Thursday. How are the Blues’ prospects for advancing in Europe?

Europe’s second-tier competition begins its knockout phase this week and Chelsea travel to Sweden on Thursday to take on Malmo. The Blues have never faced… errr… the Blues (fact #1 right there) before, so for Chelsea supporters it’s another notch on the goal post.

For reasons of climate the Swedish league, the Allsvenskan, runs from March until November. As such, Malmo are currently in pre-season. Their last competitive game was in this same competition back in mid-December.

With that in mind, a quick look at the weather forecast for Thursday shows temperatures above freezing. Supporters at least won’t have to suffer the conditions encountered in Tromso, Norway, back in 1997.

Malmo are coached by a name familiar to those who follow English football. Uwe Rossler both played and managed in England. As a player, it was for Manchester City that he gained most appearances; as a manager, survived the longest at Brentford. In terms of how he sets up his teams, he favours a 4-3-3 formation, likes to press high up the field and has compared his own footballing philosophies to those of fellow German, Jurgen Klopp.

Chelsea and Malmo will play in the 21,000 all-seated capacity New Stadium. It was opened in 2009 and one corner is named “Roy’s corner” after former manager – and current Crystal Palace manager – Roy Hodgson. “Royson,” as the locals call him, successfully managed the Swedish Blues between 1985 and 1989.

In the UEFA rankings, Malmo are in 72nd place, just below Qarabag, who Chelsea played in the Champions League a couple of years ago. Chelsea are in 18th place but in danger of falling.

What I’ve neglected to mention up until now is Chelsea’s form coming into the game. Hopefully, this foray into Europe will give some light relief from the rigours of the Premier League.

Malmo’s entire squad value is £16.88 million – equivalent to Emerson or Davide Zappacosta – compared to Chelsea’s £775 million. The top goalscorer for Malmo last season was club captain Markus Rosenberg with 15 goals from 33 games.

Since Chelsea’s last appearance in Europe their season has somewhat fallen apart in terms of performance, something that will surely give encouragement to the Swedish side. Rossler will have enjoyed watching his former club take Chelsea apart on Sunday. Plant two men on Jorginho (or whoever the so-called regista is), press Chelsea hard and the game is there for the taking.

Whilst Chelsea cruised through their Europa League group unbeaten, Malmo came second in their group, which Genk won.

Chelsea’s lineup for their final game, which ended 2-2 against MOL Vidi, featured two players no longer with the club: both Alvaro Morata and Cesc Fabregas have moved on. Chelsea newbie Gonzalo Higuain will make his 29th appearance in the competition if picked. Those previous games have seen him score 12 goals and make seven assists. Quite who Maurizio Sarri picks, though, is anyone’s guess. How those players will react and play is even harder to gauge.

Chelsea should win this game. But currently, that’s a big “should.” Chelsea’s away games in this calendar year have finished 1-0 (Tottenham), 2-0 (Arsenal), 4-0 (Bournemouth), 6-0 (Manchester City).

That’s not much to encourage those travelling but come on, how bad can Chelsea get?