Confirmed Chelsea team list to face Krasnodar in the Champions League

Chelsea continue their Champions League campaign later today with a clash against Russian side FC Krasnodar. 

The English side opened their Group E account last week, with a goalless draw at home against Europa Cup winners Sevilla, with Frank Lampard’s men tightening up at the back after a few inconsistencies in the defense early on in the season. 

The Blues, however, continued the streak with another goalless draw away to Premier League side Manchester United at the weekend, but the Blues boss will be hoping for a better result from the attack at Krasnodar. 

Chelsea Team news

According to the official website, it was confirmed on Tuesday that 22 players have travelled to Russia for the match on Wednesday night. 

Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga will not be available due to a shoulder injury which kept him out of the visit to Old Trafford on Saturday while his fellow Spaniard Marcos Alonso will be completing his three-match suspension which he collected for his red card against Bayern Munich in the last Champions League campaign. 

Chelsea new Brazilian centre-back Thisgo Silva is also left out of the squad because Lampard wanted to rest the veteran defender.  

Academy goalkeeper Karlo Ziger has been called upon to replace Kepa in the squad that will face Krasnodar who finished third in the Russian League last season. 

Confirmed Chelsea team to face Krasnodar

Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen, Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Tammy Abraham, Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner, Willy Caballero, Fikayo Tomori, Kurt Zouma, Edouard Mendy, Mateo Kovacic, Olivier Giroud, Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ben Chilwell, Hakim Ziyech, Reece James, Cesar Azpilicueta, Kai Havertz, Emerson Palmieri, Karlo Ziger.

Opta stats

• This will be the first ever competitive meeting between FK Krasnodar and Chelsea. The Russian side are unbeaten in their previous two games against English teams in all competitions (W1 D1), with both matches coming against Everton in the 2014-15 UEFA Europa League.
• Chelsea have won five of their six European encounters with Russian opponents (L1), winning all four UEFA Champions League outings.
• FK Krasnodar will compete in their first ever home match in the UEFA Champions League – none of the previous six Russian sides won their first home game in the competition (D4 L2).
• Chelsea have lost just one of their last 11 away games in European competition (W7 D3), although lost their last away game versus Bayern Munich (1-4).
• Chelsea mustered just six attempts on goal in their opening UEFA Champions League match against Sevilla this season, their fewest in a match in the competition since February 2015 vs PSG (2).
• Chelsea drew 0-0 with Sevilla on MD1 of this UEFA Champions League campaign – only in their debut season in the competition in 1999-00 have they failed to win either of their first two group stage games in a single campaign.
• Chelsea’s Kai Havertz has been involved in six goals in his last six games in European competition (4 goals, 2 assists), though he’s failed to register a single goal involvement in his nine UEFA Champions League appearances so far.
• All seven of Chelsea forward Timo Werner’s UEFA Champions League goals have come away from home – he’s the top scorer in the competition to have scored 100% of their goals on the road.