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Chelsea won the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 game versus Lille fairly comfortably. The defending champions in the biggest European club competition scored two unanswered goals and look to go through without any problems. While it seems it is already won, a 2-0 advantage is not the biggest one so Chelsea will still need to work to go through. As they look to continue their title defense, here are two bold Chelsea predictions for their Champions League clash vs Lille.
Chelsea-Lille predictions
Floodgates will open for one of their strikers
It has been a frustrating campaign for both Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku. They currently have 18 goals in 46 combined appearances this year. That is not really what anyone expected out of this season. While Werner seems to be cursed in front of goal for the second season in a row, Lukaku came to Chelsea after scoring 64 goals in two seasons at Inter Milan. It is almost incredible to see two incredibly prolific strikers, both of which carry reputations of top goalscorers in other leagues, struggle so mightily in the blue jersey.
Yet, Chelsea has managed to keep their head above water for most of the season. Unfortunately for them, they have not been able to challenge for the Premier League title, but they are still alive in the Champions League. That is partly due to their defense, which conceded just 18 goals in the Premier League and just four in the Champions League, three of which came against Zenit St Petersburg in the last group stage match. However, it is also partly due to a wide range of goal scorers with multiple scores this year. Lukaku and Werner have 18 combined as mentioned, Jorginho has 9, Havertz 8, while Mount and Ziyetch have 7.
However, that will not be good enough going forward, if Chelsea wants to repeat in the Champions League. They will need a proven goalscorer to start putting balls in the back of the net and there is no better time to start that than against the lowly Lille from the French Ligue 1. They arrived in the Champions League by surprisingly winning the title last year, but now occupy the 9th spot in the French league. They also conceded 35 goals this year in the Ligue 1, also a very poor record. If there was a team that can help out the Chelsea strikers regain some confidence, it will be this bout versus Lille.
If we were to choose which one will it be, conventional wisdom says it will be Lukaku. However, given the type of football that works best in the modern game, Chelsea should hope that it is Werner. Obviously, both of them should be scoring goals ideally for their team, but if they were made to choose, it would likely be Werner. He is a fast and athletic player, perfect for a team that likes to counterattack and attack with pace. Chelsea does not have the squad to handle better teams in the Champions League playing possession football, so if the floodgates open for Werner, they have another piece that can run, alongside their collection of pacey wingers, such as Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, and Kai Havertz.
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Chelsea will win this game but won't progress much further
Unfortunately for Chelsea, their hopes of repeating are currently very low. There are multiple factors that can lead us to the conclusion that was just mentioned. Of course, they are still favored in this matchup and should pass without any problems, but their future in the 2021-22 Champions League will likely stop at the quarterfinals mark.
Firstly, their squad is out of form. They rely on sporadic explosions of the above-mentioned players and they are not reliable in front of goal. It will work against Lille, but Chelsea will face monster European teams going forward, so they will need much more than what was shown and it is doubtful whether they can summon that in such a short period of time, especially considering the fact that they have not shown it by now.
Secondly, the ongoing sale of the club is really affecting the team. Roman Abramovich is one of the rare owners almost synonymous with the club that he has owned since 2003. Chelsea has had their golden years, winning numerous titles including two Champions League trophies in the process. Yet, due to outside circumstances, the charismatic owner is forced to sell the team. Due to the nature of the circumstance, the club officials, including coach Thomas Tuchel and players, are also asked about their opinion repeatedly, causing Tuchel to even snap at a reporter recently.
All of this, combined with the quality of their likely opposition from the quarterfinals upwards, will lead Chelsea to give up their title defense in the second round of the Champions League knockouts. They will likely need to sit down after the season and figure out how to come back to the very top of European football.
