Malmo vs Chelsea

Chelsea will be aiming to move a step closer towards reaching the UEFA Champions League knock-out stage when they take on Group H minnows Malmo at the Eleda Stadion.

Despite getting their Allsvenskan title defense off to a flying start, Malmo are on the verge of waving goodbye to the Champions League after losing their opening three Group H matches by an aggregate score of 11-0. Malmo’s disastrous Champions League start includes an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Chelsea last time out, which means they’ve now lost all three European clashes against this opposition, scoring one goal while conceding nine in return. Additionally, the Swedish giants have lost seven of their previous eight European meetings with English clubs (W1), including the last four in a row. The odds are heavily stacked against Malmo here and for a good reason, considering they’ve conceded a competition-high 11 goals in the Champions League this term, letting in 2+ first-half goals in two of their three group stage fixtures so far.

On the other hand, Chelsea swept Malmo away last time out to bounce back from a narrow 1-0 away defeat to Juventus on Matchday 2 and maintain a three-point lead over third-placed Zenit St Petersburg. However, both Chelsea’s Champions League victories this season have come at Stamford Bridge, while they risk losing back-to-back away matches in the competition for the first time since November 2012. The ‘Blues’ can call upon fond memories of their clashes against Swedish adversaries, having never lost to such rivals across seven previous such match-ups (W4, D3). Thomas Tuchel will be missing Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner to injuries, yet he could be enthusiastic to know his men have netted ten goals across the last two Premier League victories without the star duo.