Chelsea score predictions: Blues to leave Krasnodar with a win

Chelsea travels to Russia to take on Krasnodar in the Champions League. How does our staff think the Blues will match up against the Bulls?

Chelsea is making its most brutal trip of the season in the midst of a tough run of matches. The Blues travel to Russia’s south western region with one goal in mind: up their point total to four in Group E. On paper, this game seems relatively easy given Krasnodar’s injuries and the fact it’s the club’s first UCL campaign. However, it’ll be anything but a simple victory. Expect a hard fought resistance from the Bulls, but The Pride of London staff believes the Blues will come out with the victory.

Here are the writers’ score predictions for Krasnodar vs. Chelsea:

Michael DeVito: 0-1 Chelsea

The Blues attack is listless, let’s hope for a breakout—please. Hopefully, they at least squeeze out one goal against Krasnodar. Edouard Mendy (or Petr Cech) must be in goal; if so, a clean sheet is very possible and so is a win. Hope this is too pessimistic and they net five.

Hugo Amaya: 0-2 Chelsea

This time, rolling the dice won’t be necessary as Chelsea will have a clear victory in this match. Lampard will continue with the same formation he used against United, and this will give Chelsea a solid defense to keep a clean sheet. When it comes to the attack, the Blues will create many chances and put two past the opposition before the half. A very controlled game, for a change, where there won’t be much to worry about.

Mike Malley: 0-3 Chelsea

Unfortunately for Krasnodar, they’re going to be one of the teams that gets thumped by the Blues this season. After a string of frustrating results, Chelsea will start firing on all gears and dismantle the Russian side. Three goals should be a conservative estimate.

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Tan Yi Hao: 0-5 Chelsea

Following back-to-back games without scoring, Wednesday’s game against Krasnodar serves as a perfect opportunity for the Blues’ attack to find their feet and score some goals. Expect a massive trashing from a side eager to get back to scoring ways.

Olaoluwa Nwobodo: 0-2 Chelsea

The Blues have shown, if nothing else, that they can now keep clean sheets. The players would not want to start giving up goals now, especially after clean sheets against Sevilla and Man United. Mendy has shown that he can decide the outcome of games, so expect another clean sheet in this match. Chelsea players, especially the attackers, need time to play together. Once they get that, the attack will look more threatening, but the Blues should have enough about them to see off the Champions League debutants.

Scott Brant: 1-3 Chelsea

Three consecutive clean sheets just sounds too good to be true. Chelsea has been lackluster in the attack the last two matches. The Blues go all out versus Krasnodar and net three. Werner, Pulisic and Olivier Giroud get the goals; Chelsea gets out of town with the much needed three points.

Jake Brigstock: 0-3 Chelsea

Going to Russia midweek is a heck of a long haul—and it’s always going to be tough—but the Blues should be viewing this game as the perfect opportunity to strike the balance between a solid defence and unleashing the firepower up front. The optimist in me is saying that’s what we’ll see. Although they drew 1-1 at Rennes on the opening day of Champions League fixtures, the Bulls sit eighth in the Russian Premier League, so I’d say they’re there for the taking. Werner, Pulisic and Mount to be among the goals for this one, and hopefully Ziyech can get some more minutes as he continues his return to full fitness.

Oliver Smith: 0-4 Chelsea

It’s a long flight, but don’t expect that to slow the Blues down. The Russians will come out firing against Chelsea and the first counter attack will lead to a goal and the start of a dominant performance from the Blues. Antonio Rudiger will be brought in from the cold (and straight into the cold of Russia), delivering a fantastic and assured performance. Look for Abraham and a mystery defender to score; Giroud to come on and nick a goal; while Ziyech scores late while working back to full fitness—back to London with three points in the bag.

Varun Dani: 0-4 Chelsea

Lampard will look to build on two clean sheets by starting to score goals while also stopping them at the other end. Fortunately, an injury bug hit the Russian side and it will be the perfect time to rotate, dominate and gain some much needed momentum. First start for Ziyech and a rare start for Hudson-Odoi will help the Blues find their attacking spark again.

Kevin Peacock: 1-4 Chelsea

The Russian side was only founded in 2008 and with Chelsea’s wealth of history, a nice, easy win ought to be on the cards. Lampard has struggled to balance defence and attack so far this season, but this may be an opportunity to try something else. However, it’s the Blues, so they will flatter to deceive for long periods, eventually winning 4-1 as the Champions League newbies succumb to tired legs. By the way, Krasnodar ain’t got no history.

Nate Hofmann: 1-2 Chelsea

It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, no one is at peak performance the day after flying 2000+ miles. This is a work trip for the Blues, where the goal is to go in, get three points and head home as quickly as possible. It may not be sexy, but the Blues should get the job done.

Barrett Rouen: 1-4 Chelsea

Tammy to score two and continue to show that replacing him really was not any sort of priority.

Travis Tyler: 0-5 Chelsea

Krasnodar probably deserves more from their first Champions League campaign, but thems the breaks. A heavily depleted Russian side versus any side Chelsea fields just isn’t enough.

Gabe Henderson: 0-3 Chelsea

Aside from Barnsley, the Blues have failed to really dominate any team this season. Even then—and in the Crystal Palace match—there were some shaky moments. This will be a comfortable win for Lampard’s side as goals begin to fly in again, but by no means will it be a dominating scoreline.

Abhishek Pancholi: 0-5 Chelsea

The Russian side is missing a lot of players, so even a second string Blues team should be able to swat its opponents aside without breaking a sweat.

What do you think the score will be? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!