Panathinaikos vs Chelsea
UEFA Europa League Conference, KO: 17:45 Oct 24, 2024, Olympic Athletic Center of Athens
CHELSEA resume their Europa Conference League bid on Thursday night as they travel to Greece to tackle Panathinaikos. Here we have a look at the upcoming action between the Blues and the Greens on Thursday, October 24th from the Olympic Athletic Center of Athens.
How the bookies view it: Blues odds-on to land second campaign win.
Chelsea will roll into Greece as the odds-on favourites for this Europa Conference League match. The Premier League club are a quote of 8/15 for the win at Bet365. Chelsea are the outright tournament favourites, so that’s no great surprise to see them start at that kind of price. Panathinaikos, who only managed a draw against Bosnian side Borac Banja Luka on Matchday 1 are 9/2 outsiders.
Recent head-to-head: Chelsea dominates
Thursday’s meeting will be the first time the two clubs will have met. Chelsea are unbeaten in six (W4 D2) previous matches against Greek opposition, but their two draws from the record happened in Greece.
Players to watch: Nkunku could grab his chance to shine again
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca made a fair few changes to his starting line-up for their match against Gent in the opening round of the Conference League. So expect more of the same to follow on Thursday night. Given that he didn’t come on until late into their Premier League defeat against Liverpool, Christopher Nkunku could be the central focus of Chelsea’s attack. He should be fresh and has shown good goalscoring form this season, including scoring against Gent on Matchday 1. Joao Felix had some sublime touches in that opening match against Gent, and could likely play from the start along with Mykhaylo Mudryk.
Predicted Lineups
Chelsea won’t have Romeo Lavia, Wesley Fofana and Cole Palmer available, as they aren’t in the European squad. Reece James could get more minutes under his belt on his path to recovery. Expect fringe players like Keirnan Dewsbury-Hall, Cesare Casadei and Aexl Disasi to form the bulk of the Chelsea starting eleven. Panathinaikos are missing their captain Fotis Ioannidis which is a blow for them in such an important home fixture, while forward Andraz Sporar could miss out through injury.
Panathinaikos: Dragowski; Kotsiras, Jedvaj, Ingason, Mladenovic; Maksimovic, Cerin; Pellistri, Bakasetas, Duricic; Jeremejeff
Chelsea: Jorgensen; Disasi, Tosin, Badiashile, Veiga; Casadei, Dewsbury-Hall; Neto, Felix, Mudryk; Nkunku
Anything else catch the eye?
Despite their narrow Premier League loss against Liverpool on the weekend, Chelsea have been in strong form recently, winning five of their last seven matches in all competitions (D1 L1). They scored at least three goals in four of those seven as well. They have the power in their attack to potentially help lift this game above the 2.5 goals line. What will help with that target, is that the Blues haven’t been totally convincing at the back this season, and have no clean sheet in four.
Panathinaikos are unbeaten in their last four home matches in all competitions, winning three. But their bigger form looks less impressive with only two victories in their last seven played, with only two goals scored in total in their last four.
This UEFA Europa League Conference match between Panathinaikos and Chelsea will be played on Oct 24, 2024 and kick off at 17:45. Check below for our tipsters best Panathinaikos vs Chelsea prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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