FK Krasnodar vs Chelsea
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Today’s free tip is in the UEFA Champions League encounter between FK Krasnodar and Chelsea.
I was going to leave this one alone to begin with. FK Krasnodar are quite the underrated team in Europe, easily Russia’s best team when it comes to dealing with European football because of their athleticism and their comfort on the ball. On top of that, Chelsea still play like they’re a bit wet behind the ears when it comes to European football under Lampard.
However, having seen the team news, anything but a strong away win here would be very surprising. I knew that they were without Ari and Wanderson to begin with anyway; Ari has been out for a long time now, and Wanderson has been out for a week or two. I also knew that they lost French playmaker Cabella after the Stade Rennais draw too. Since then though, Covid-19 has taken hold, and now they’re missing Petrov, Markov, and Claesson, as well as potentially missing Olsson, Berg, and Sorokin too. It’s too much for FK Krasnodar, I’m afraid. They play lovely football, and to have gotten where they have is a heroic achievement, but they’re simply not going to be able to give a good account of themselves tonight.
To put it into context for you, this attack-minded team is now without its three best creators, one of its defensive regulars, and is likely to be without its only two good finishers and one if its tidiest central midfielders. I rate wonderkid Suleymanov highly, and Dutch attacking midfielder Vihena can do a decent job sometimes, but they’re almost fresh out of attacking options, FK Krasnodar, and that’s all they bring to games to annoy teams with. They will not keep a clean sheet in most European games, especially not in the UEFA Champions League, and I would be astounded if tonight proved to be an exception.
So – this one is Chelsea’s game to mess up, really. I didn’t think they played particularly well against Sevilla CF, but then again, most teams don’t. Their lack of consistency over the past couple of weeks has been disappointing to see. It can be forgiven, however – Lampard has brought in a lot of new faces pre-season, and a number of them have been out for a bit too. The likes of Havertz are still adjusting, and it’ll take more time yet. I still think that what they’ve done – for the most part – has been very good, and that they’ve taken progressive steps under a progressive manager. I’ve no complaints overall.
All Chelsea should need to do in order to succeed in Russia tonight is to control the game. That’s it. That’s why I like their chances here because FK Krasnodar are missing almost all of their dangerous attacking options, leaving the English team free to do as they see fit. With time and space, Chelsea are deadly. I’d prefer it if Giroud started ahead of Werner because I expect them to have FK Krasnodar pinned back for large periods here, and the Frenchman is far more effective in such positions than Werner. I doubt that will happen though.
Either way, Chelsea should not struggle to make it count here. They’ve got no excuses for failing to win this game comfortably as the team they’re facing is not the FK Krasnodar that dazzled Russian football over the past few years.
Verdict: Chelsea to beat the -1.5 Asian Handicap at 23/20.
Wednesday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
UEFA Champions League:
FK Krasnodar vs Chelsea
Istanbul BB vs Paris Saint-Germain
Sevilla CF vs Stade Rennais
Bv09 Borussia Dortmund vs Zenit St. Petersburg
Club Brugge vs SS Lazio
Juventus vs Barcelona CF
Ferencvaros vs Dinamo Kiev
Manchester United vs RB Leipzig
Copa Sudamericana:
Sportivo Luqueno vs Defensa y Justicia
Atletico Nacional de Medellin vs River Plate Montevideo
Fenix vs Huachipato
Millonarios Bogota vs Deportivo Cali
Vasco da Gama vs Caracas
Velez Sarsfield vs Penarol Montevideo
Croatian Prva Liga:
Slaven Koprivnica vs Lokomotiva Zagreb
Estonian Meistriliiga:
Flora Tallinn vs Flora Paide
Faroese Betrideildin:
Vikingur Gota vs KI
IF vs B36 Torshavn
HB Torshavn vs NSI Runavik
Finnish Ykkonen:
VPS vs KTP
German Bundesliga 2:
Osnabruck vs Darmstadt 98
Italian Coppa Italia:
Torino vs Lecce
Cagliari vs Cremonense
Cosenza vs Monopoli
Cittadella vs Spezia
Brescia vs Perugia
Benevento vs Empoli
Hellas Verona vs Venezia
Crotone vs SPAL
Genoa vs Catanzaro
Parma vs Pescara
Udinese vs Vicenza
ACF Fiorentina vs Padova
Lithuanian A Lyga:
Riteriai vs FK Panevezys
Dutch KNVB Beker:
ADO Den Haag vs Sparta Rotterdam
FC Emmen vs FC Eindhoven
Heracles Almelo vs Telstar
RKC Waalwijk vs Cambuur Leeuwarden
Roda JC Kerkrade vs Fortuna Sittard
Portuguese Liga 1:
Sporting Clube de Portugal vs Gil Vicente
Swedish Allsvenskan:
BK Hacken Goteborg vs Djurgarden
Enjoy your free betting tips!