Conference League favourites Chelsea travel the Polish capital to face Legia Warsaw in the first leg of their quarter-final on Thursday evening.
Ever since qualifying for the competition, the Blues have been resounding favourites, and have backed up that tag with dominant performances throughout the season.
Match preview
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After finishing top of the League Phase with a 100% record, Chelsea maintained that by winning both legs of their last-16 tie with Danish giants Copenhagen last month.
Enzo Maresca's side now have a favourable run to the final, knowing they will avoid the other opponents from the top-five leagues should they make it through this quarter-final.
Djurgardens or Rapid Vienna await the winners of this clash, and that is why Chelsea find themselves clear at the top of the markets to lift the trophy next month in Wroclaw, just slightly west of their next destination Warsaw.
Chelsea could therefore become the first club to win all three of UEFA's active club competitions, while they also have a Cup Winners' Cup crown in the trophy cabinet.
However, Maresca's side are looking less convincing week-by-week, with their last five matches producing three 1-0 wins, a 1-0 defeat, and a 0-0 draw with Brentford at the weekend, where they looked rather toothless in attack.
Chelsea are still searching for a first away league win in 2025, with their only success on the road in their last 10 games coming against Copenhagen in the previous round, but that does bode well for this next assignment.
However, Legia will be no pushovers, because Goncalo Feio's men have only lost once here since mid-September, but that did come in the Conference League against Lugano during the league phase.
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Legia won their first four matches in the League Phase, joining Chelsea at the top of the standings, but lost their final two, only narrowly making it through in the top eight, allowing them to skip the playoff round.
It has been a mixed start to 2025, but after beating fellow Conference League competitors Jagiellona Bialystok in the domestic cup, the club from the capital went on to beat Molde after extra time to book their place in the quarter-finals of this competition.
The hosts could not have prepared any better for this clash, after beating Ruch Chorzow 5-0 to reach the Polish Cup final, they also won 2-1 against Gornik Zabrze at the weekend to strengthen their push for European qualification next season.
Chelsea should be wary of the potency of Legia's attack, because despite being down in fifth, they are the Ekstraklasa top scorers with 50 goals, and the win over Ruch last week, as well as crushing League Phase wins over the likes of TSC, Dinamo Minsk and Omonia Nicosia, suggests they can score freely.
Team News
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After failing to score in 11 straight games, Cole Palmer dropped to the Chelsea bench at the weekend, but Maresca was adamant that was down to their fixture list, and not because of his recent form.
The Chelsea boss appears to be prioritising a run in this competition, because Palmer was not the only player who was rested at the weekend, with Nicolas Jackson, Marc Cucurella, Levi Colwill and Pedro Neto also on the bench from the start.
Wesley Fofana is out for the season, and Romeo Lavia is the only other injury concern, but the Belgian midfielder is not part of Chelsea's Conference League squad anyway, so would not have been available.
Feio picked a relatively strong Legia team at the weekend despite their biggest game in many years being on the horizon, so a similar XI could be named to the one that beat Gornik.
Marc Gual and Bartosz Kapustka were left out as a precaution and could still miss out due to injury, while defenders Jan Ziolkowski and Artur Jedrzejczyk are banned, but Steve Kapuadi will be back in the squad after serving a suspension of his own.
Luquinhas missed the second leg win over Molde in the last round, but has since returned and netted both goals in the league win on Sunday, so should have done enough to earn himself a start.
Legia Warsaw possible starting lineup:
Tobiasz; Wszolek, Pankov, Kapuadi, Vinagre; Elitim, Augustyniak, Kapustka; Chodyna, Luquinhas, Morishita
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Jorgensen; Gusto, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella; James, Caicedo, Fernandez; Palmer, Jackson, Neto
We say: Legia Warsaw 1-2 Chelsea
Chelsea should make it nine wins from nine in the competition this season here, but even though Maresca did rest a few players at the weekend, their full XI may not find it straightforward in the Polish capital.
Legia have shown some very promising signs across all competitions this season, but this will surely be a step too far in what has been a very encouraging European campaign.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
