Chelsea vs BATE Preview | Key Man Ruled Out | Expected Line-Ups | Predicted Score

Chelsea will be looking to continue their 100% record in the Europa League when they welcome BATE Borisov to Stamford Bridge this evening. 

The Blues warmed up for the game with a  2-2 draw with Manchester United that saw Chelsea squander an early lead before scoring a dramatic injury time equaliser to salvage a point that leaves them third in the table and two points off leaders Man City.

However, it’s European matters that are the focus today as Chelsea aim to make it three wins from three games in Group L having already secured six points with wins over PAOK and Vidi.

Maurizio Sarri says he’s not expecting an easy game against the Belorussian outfit but Chelsea should be confident of securing all three points against a BATE side that sit third in the group after being thrashed 4-1 by PAOK last time out.

Team news

Chelsea will be without talisman Eden Hazard as the attacker has been ruled out with a back injury that he sustained against United and is in a race to be fit for the Premier League trip to Burnley on Sunday.

Sarri has also confirmed he will make several changes to his starting eleven with Jorginho one of the players rested while the likes of David Luiz, Antonio Rudiger, Cesar Azpilicueta and N’Golo Kante could also be given a breather.

Gary Cahill, Andreas Christensen, Davide Zappacosta, Ross Barkley, Cesc Fabregas and Pedro are among the players pushing for recalls while Ruben Loftus-Cheek will also hope to feature.

As for BATE, they are expected to be without Vladislav Malkevich and Vladislav Mukhamedov as the duo remain on the sidelines through injury.

Expected Line-Ups

BATE XI: Scherbitski; Polyakov, Milunovic, Filipenko, Volodko; Ivanic, Dragun, Yablonski, Baga, Stasevich; Tuominen

Predicted Score

Chelsea 2-0 BATE: The Blues have enjoyed an excellent start to the season under Sarri and haven’t put a foot wrong in the Europa League so I can’t see past a comfortable home win. Sarri will rest his key players ahead of Burnley and they will miss Hazard but I think they’ll still have too much for BATE.