A Blue Up North previews Chelsea’s Europa League match away to Malmo FF.
This Thursday evening Chelsea return to European action as they travel to south west Sweden to face Malmö FF. The match is the first leg of this season’s Europa League last 32, with the return leg back at Stamford Bridge next Thursday.
Just as The Blues hope to get as far away as emotionally possible from the weekend’s embarrassing mauling at the hands of Manchester City, they face a side playing in light blue and with former Citizen Uwe Rosler sat in the home dugout.
Record Swedish League winners qualified for the latter stages of the competition after finishing second in their group behind Belgian champions K.R.C. Genk, winning only 1 of their 3 home group matches.
Chelsea comfortably won their group unbeaten and only drew away to MOL Vidi and against a side ranked 72nd in Europe according to UEFA’s coefficient system, they should continue that run.
However The Blues are smarting from their humiliating loss and there are understandable concerns over their away form. Chelsea have now lost 6 out of their last 10 away matches, including the last 3. Their last away goal was N’Golo Kante’s winning strike against Crystal Palace back in December.
With the club falling down to 6th place in the Premier League, their campaign in the Europa League has taken on an extra priority as it may be the club’s best opportunity to gain Champions League qualification for next season.
So under pressure manager Maurizio Sarri will need to be careful with his choices of players and motivational skills going in to this match. Ruben Loftus-Cheek has not traveled as he continues to suffer with back pains, and Marcos Alonso will be rested the manager has already confirmed.
With Monday evening’s FA Cup home tie against Manchester United looming on the horizon, Sarri will hope to rest a few of his key players and utilise some of his squad players. Eden Hazard could well be moved to the substitute’s bench while Andreas Christensen and Callum Hudson-Odoi could well start.
Manager Rosler will have enjoyed Chelsea’s loss on Sunday but will be wary of The Blues increased determination going in to the match against his current side.
With the Swedish season running from April til November, Malmö FF’s last competitive match was their final group match in early December. They are in the early stages of their preseason and have recently traveled to Spain for some warmer weather training. They are unbeaten in their last 8 home matches in European competition and bizarrely scored all of their 7 goals in this season’s Europa League in the second half of matches.
Chelsea and Malmö FF have never played a competitive match against each other, but The Blues’s are unbeaten against Swedish opposition. Both away matches have ended goalless. Assistant manager Gianfranco Zola’s winning goal against Stuttgart in the 1998 European Cup Winners Cup Final in Stockholm is still Chelsea’s only competitive goal scored on Swedish soil.
With next week’s second leg falling in between cup matches against both Manchester clubs, The Blues will be aiming for returning to Stamford Bridge will a lead. Let’s all hope the Chelsea players find their counterparts cold and struggling for match readiness.
Written by Jon Ellis, home and away season ticket holder. Follow him on Twitter @ClitheroeBlue
