Team
news and stats ahead of Sevilla vs Chelsea in the Champions League group
stage on Wednesday (kick-off 8pm).
Team news
Frank Lampard will rotate his Chelsea team for Wednesday's Champions League
Group E clash away to Sevilla and has challenged his fringe players to grab
their chance. With both sides on 10 points and assured of progress to the
last 16, victory for either would clinch top spot.
Callum Hudson-Odoi is likely to be involved after being left out of the
squad for Sunday's 0-0 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
Teenage midfielder Billy Gilmour has not made a first-team appearance this
season and had been troubled by a back injury.
Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui does not plan to rest any players even though
his side have already qualified for the knockout stages and face Real Madrid
next weekend.
The coach said he still hoped to be able to count upon forwards Luuk de Jong
and Lucas Ocampos, who missed training on Tuesday, while he will be without
first-choice goalkeeper Bono and forward Carlos Fernandez due to testing
positive for Covid-19, plus injured midfielders Marcos Acuna and Suso.
Karim Rekik is likely to continue at left-back in place of Sergio Escudero.
Lopetegui will select between Oliver Torres, De Jong, Ocampos, Oscar
Rodriguez, Oussama Idrissi and Youssef En-Nesyri among his attacking
options.
Who needs what?
Sevilla and Chelsea have both already reached the round of 16 - but whoever
wins this game will clinch first place.
Opta stats
Sevilla are unbeaten in their last seven meetings with English sides in
major European competition (W3 D4) since losing 2-0 away to Leicester City
in March 2017.
Chelsea have only won one of their last 10 games against Spanish opponents
in the UEFA Champions League (D6 L3), and are winless in six (D4 L2) since a
2-1 win over Atlético de Madrid in September 2017.
Sevilla and Chelsea have both already qualified for the UEFA Champions
League round of 16 this season, with whoever wins this match qualifying as
group winners. Sevilla haven't topped their Champions League group since
2009-10, while Chelsea last did so in 2015-16.
Sevilla have never failed to score in 17 previous UEFA Champions League
group stage home games before (W13 D2 L2). The Spanish side are unbeaten in
five such games (W4 D1) since losing 1-3 to Juventus in November 2016.
Since losing their opening game of the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League
campaign against Valencia, Chelsea are unbeaten in their last nine group
stage games in the competition (W6 D3), winning each of the last three in a
row.
This is the third time Sevilla have remained unbeaten in their first four
UEFA Champions League group stage matches, after 2009-10 and 2016-17 -
they've never been unbeaten in their first five in a single edition of the
competition before.
Chelsea are looking to win four consecutive UEFA Champions League matches
for the first time since March/April 2012, en route to winning the trophy
for the only time.
Sevilla's Ivan Rakitic has scored in each of his last two UEFA Champions
League matches, never previously scoring in three in a row in the
competition before. Indeed, the Croatian has never scored more than twice in
a single Champions League campaign.
Since the start of the 2018-19 season, Olivier Giroud has scored 12 goals in
the UEFA Europa League/Champions League for Chelsea, double that of any
other player at the club. The Frenchman netted a stoppage-time winner in
their last game against Rennes.
Chelsea's Timo Werner has been involved in nine goals in nine UEFA Champions
League away games (8 goals, 1 assist), while he's also got the most goal
involvements in the competition for the Blues so far this season (3 goals, 1
assist).
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