Champions League preview: Chelsea is in hot form with 6 wins and 1 loss in the past 7 games. Qarabak should not be underestimated.
6686 Sports News on November 5th. At 1:45 on November 6th, Beijing time, in the fourth round of the UEFA Champions League in the 25-26 season, the Azerbaijani team Qarabag sat at the home team to face the Premier League powerhouse Chelsea.
In the first three rounds of the UEFA Champions League, Chelsea and Qarabag both had 2 wins, 1 loss and 6 points, ranking in the middle of the standings. Chelsea lost to Bayern Munich 1-3 in the first round, then defeated Benfica 1-0 in the following two rounds and beat Ajax 5-1. On the other hand, Qarabag reversed their last shot at Benfica 3-2 in the first round, defeated Copenhagen 2-0 in the second round, and then lost 1-3 to Athletic Bilbao. Although Qarabak is not a regular in the Champions League, judging from his performance in the previous three rounds, his combat power cannot be underestimated.
Chelsea’s recent competitive form and record are remarkable. In the past 7 games in various competitions, Chelsea defeated Benfica 1-0 (Champions League), Liverpool 2-1 (Premier League), Nottingham Forest 3-0 (Premier League), and Ajax 5-1 (Champions League). Lost to Sunderland (Premier League) 1-2, defeated Wolves 4-3 (England League Cup), and defeated Tottenham Hotspur (Premier League) 1-0. In the past 7 games, they have 6 wins and 1 loss. During this period, they averaged 2.4 goals per game and conceded 1 goal per game. Caicedo, Esteban, Gittens and others all showed good attacking competitiveness.
Although Chelsea went to the away team to play against Qarabag, it is worth mentioning that Chelsea has won the last four away games. However, in the Champions League, Chelsea has never scored in the first quarter of the game or the last quarter of the end this season.
For Chelsea’s defense, there are two points that require special attention. One is the need to maintain guard concentration at all times. You know, Chelsea recently lost 1-2 to Sunderland and defeated Wolves 4-3, both of which were scored by their opponents in stoppage time. Secondly, special attention needs to be paid to the intensity of defense in the right rib area of the defense line, because 3 of Chelsea's last four goals conceded were due to the right rib area of the defense being torn apart by the opponent.
At the pre-match press conference, Chelsea coach Maresca said: "Qarabag defeated Benfica and Copenhagen, and was once in the lead against Athletic Bilbao. They are a very good team." At the same time, Maresca said: "Drap is back, James is also ready to play three games a week, only Neto cannot play against Qarabag."
Benfica and Copenhagen are both regulars in the Champions League. Qarabak's ability to defeat the above two teams shows that Qarabak is by no means a weak team. Especially in the 3-2 reversal of the last shot against Benfica, Qarabag showed admirable tenacity and fighting spirit. Qarabak's recent home team performance has been very good. In the past 6 home team games, they drew 1-1 with Zira (Asser Super League), defeated FK Kabala (Asser Super League) 2-0, defeated Copenhagen 2-0 (UEFA Champions League), and Captured Capaz PFK (Asser Super League) 1-0, tied Shamakhi (Asser Super League) 0-0, defeated Mirmgan FK (Asser Super League) 2-0, not only achieved 4 wins and 2 draws, but also kept clean sheets in the past 5 home team games.
In terms of historical confrontation records, the two sides were in the same Group C in the UEFA Champions League group stage in the 17-18 season. On September 13, 2017, in the first round of the group stage, Chelsea defeated Qarabag 6-0 at home. On November 23 of the same year, in the fifth round of the group stage, Chelsea defeated Qarabag 4-0 away from home. It can be seen that Chelsea not only maintained a complete victory in the previous two games against Qarabag, but also won and lost 10-0.
