Chelsea vs. Dynamo Kiev
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Kick off: 8:45pm
Chelsea will be hoping to revive their faltering season when they take on Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League on Wednesday night (tonight).
The Blues have endured a miserable start to the campaign, and a defeat to the Ukrainian champions could pile further misery on under-fire manager Jose Mourinho.
What began as a poor start to the season, has quickly developed into a full-blown crisis for Chelsea, who are under increasing pressure to turn their form around.
The same team who romped to the title in clinical fashion last term are currently 15th in the Premier League table this time around, having lost six of their opening 11 fixtures.
The most recent of those defeats came at the weekend, as Liverpool recovered from conceding an early goal to claim a 3-1 victory, giving Jurgen Klopp his first league win since taking charge of the Reds.
The result cast further doubt over Mourinho’s future at the club, but the Portuguese has since claimed that he will see out his contract and that he does not fear the sack. Chelsea’s problems on the pitch have led to a number of other difficulties for Mourinho, as he has been hit with a one-match stadium ban and a fine of £40,000 from the Football Association, while he is also to be the subject of individual legal action from former club doctor Eva Carneiro.
It is not just their league form which has suffered, as they are third in Group G after winning just one of their opening three Champions League matches.
However, the Blues could overtake tonight’s opponents Kiev in the table with a victory, and many considered them unfortunate not to win when the teams met last month, as they hit the woodwork twice and had a penalty appeal turned down in a goalless draw.
While Chelsea have struggled in their own domestic league, it has been a different story for Dynamo Kiev, who are level with Shakhtar Donetsk at the top of the Ukrainian Premier League.
The defending champions have only lost one of their opening 12 fixtures in the top flight, although that sole defeat did come at the hands of Shakhtar in a disappointing 3-0 reverse at home.
They bounced back from that setback to claim a precious point against Chelsea in Europe four days later, and they warmed up for this week’s trip to Stamford Bridge by beating Metalist Kharkiv 2-0 at the weekend. Kiev manager Serhiy Rebrov, who had spells during his player career in London with Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, will be hoping that his team can produce a repeat of their last European display and maintain their unbeaten record in this season’s group stage.
The Ukrainians had started their European campaign by coming from behind late on to snatch a 2-2 draw against Porto, before they came away from Israel with a 2-0 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Kiev’s positive start is all the more important as they have not reached the knockout stages in the tournament for 16 years, when they were beaten 4-3 on aggregate in the last four by Bayern Munich.
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