Sevilla hosts Chelsea tomorrow night in a rematch of a Champions League group stage clash that ended a goalless draw. Pretty safe to say that most supporters and observers will hope that the reverse fixture here doesn’t end in the same manner.
The winner of this match, if it doesn’t end in stalemate, should win Group E, although Chelsea could still be in a fantastic position to take the grouping if this one also ends in a tie. Both sides won the other three UCL matches that they have played so far.
Sevilla vs Chelsea FC Champions League Group E FYIs
Kickoff: Wed Dec 2, 8pm BST, Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán
Chelsea team news: go to this link
TV: BT Sport 3 (UK)
Streaming in USA: CBS All Access, TUDNxtra (in Spanish) and fuboTV (in Spanish)
Odds: Chelsea win 13/8, Draw 5/2, Sevilla 15/8 win
In looking at what kind of lineup manager Frank Lampard might go with here, expect some squad rotation.
With passage to the round of 16 booked, we could see a few players who started at the weekend rested here.
It also might provide a good opportunity for the oft-injured, and now fully quarantine bearded, Christian Pulisic to get a full 90 minutes. Ditto for goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, who is buried on the depth chart now.
The rest of our first team picks are below
Chelsea FC Starting XI Prediction at Sevilla FC
Kepa Arrizabalaga; Ben Chilwell, Kurt Zouma, Antonio Rudiger, Cesar Azpilicueta; Mason Mount, N’Golo Kante, Jorginho; Christian Pulisic, Kai Havertz, Olivier Giroud
Prediction: Chelsea 2, Sevilla 1
In the reverse fixture, we saw a tedious, yawn-inducing scoreless draw. That most likely won’t happen again.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.