Thoughts on Chelsea's UEFA Champions League group
Just some thoughts on Chelsea's group from the UEFA Champions League group stage draw earlier today. It's not great but it could have been worse.
Chelsea, as champions of England, were drawn into Group C alongside Atletico Madrid (pot 2), AS Roma (pot 3) and Qarabag (pot 4 and suffer the misfortune of sounding an awful lot like 'carrier bag whenever someone pronounces their name).
Tough group.
In the past four seasons Atletico Madrid have made it to the final twice (losing both times to Real Madrid), the semi-finals once (losing to Real Madrid) and the quarter-finals once (losing to, yes you guessed it, Real Madrid). They even knocked Chelsea out on their route to the first of their two final appearances in the semi-finals (back when they had Thibaut Courtois and Diego Costa). They are easily the most difficult opponents for Chelsea in the group.
Roma finished second in the Serie A last season and just four points behind champions Juventus and have the league's top goalscorer, Edin Dzeko (29), in their squad. The good news is that they lost Mohamed Salah (formerly of Chelsea) to Liverpool this summer, he was the club's top assist maker and second highest goalscorer. He will be a miss. This will not be an easy game for Chelsea, especially away from home.
And then there's Qarabag of Azerbaijan making their first appearance in the group stages of the Champions League. You would expect this to be a guaranteed six points for the other three sides, the only downside is the journey time for the away tie.
So two tough ties and a long journey but it could have been worse. Chelsea avoided the likes of Barcelona, PSG and Dortmund from pot 2 and Celtic, CSKA Moscow, Sporting CP and RB Leipzig from pot 4.
Of course that's only half the story, the other half is looking at what Premier League games Chelsea have before or after each Champions League tie and there the news isn't great. After four Champions League games Chelsea have a game against a top six side. The good news is they all have European ties during the week as well.
For Chelsea's first Champions League game, at home vs Qarabag on Tuesday night, they face Leicester on the Saturday beforehand and Arsenal on the Sunday after. Arsenal will have a game on Thursday in the Europa League group stage (which hasn't been drawn as I'm writing this so no idea if they are home or away).
For Chelsea's second Champions League game, away vs Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night, they are away to Stoke on the Saturday beforehand and are at home to Manchester City the Saturday after. Manchester City will be at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on the Tuesday night.
Hopefully there shouldn't be too much of an issue surrounding Chelsea's third Champions League tie at home to Roma on Wednesday night sandwiched between an away game agaisnt Crystal Palace and home game against Watford.
For the fourth Champions League tie away from home against Roma on Tuesday night, Chelsea have Bournemouth away from home beforehand on Saturday and then are at home to Manchester United on the following Sunday. Manchester United will be playing the same night as Chelsea here and they will be at home agaisnt Benfica, arguably the second hardest they have in their group after the away tie against Benfica.
Chelsea's fifth Champions League tie, away to Qarabag on Wednesday night (the longest trip they have to face) is sandwiched between an away trip to West Brom on the Saturday beforehand and an away trip to Liverpool the following Saturday. Liverpool have an away trip to Sevilla on the Tuesday night that week.
And then Chelsea's final Champions League group stage tie, at home agaisnt Atletico Madrid on Tuesday, and could be the game that decides who tops the group or be important in deciding who qualifies who for the knockout stages, is sandwiched between a home against Newcastle beforehand and away against West Ham afterwards (both on Saturday's).
Probably not the best run of fixtures, but again you could make the case that it could be worse.
A lot of it will depend on how results go in the groups, which in turn will impact on how much a side needs a result in that group stage game.
I'm just happy to see Chelsea back in the Champions League although if Chelsea are to have a difficult group part of me wishes that they could have got Barcelona or PSG for a chance to see Messi or Neymar play.
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