Big Match Breakdown: PAOK v Chelsea

Odds, tips and preview for Europa League clash

Chelsea begin their Europa League campaign tonight with a trip to PAOK.

The West London club have made an impressive start to life under Maurizio Sarri. They’ll be looking to maintain their momentum in Greece.

You can catch the action live on BT Sport 2 at 5:55pm tonight. The Coral News Team have all the pre-match info right here…

Head-to-Head

These sides have never met before in any competition, but Chelsea will be full of confidence.

The Blues have won all five of their league games so far this season. However, PAOK have also won all three of their league outings.

Likely XIs

Sarri will shuffle his pack here. Eden Hazard has been rested, while David Luiz and Mateo Kovacic haven’t travelled to Greece either.

The likes of Andreas Christensen, Victor Moses and Davide Zappacosta will come into the side. Ruben Loftus-Cheek would have featured if it weren’t for injury. Alvaro Morata should also return after losing his place to Olivier Giroud at the weekend.

Former Arsenal striker Chuba Akpom could make his first start for PAOK in this one. Stelios Kitsiou is likely to come in for the suspended Leo Matos at right-back.

Key Battles

Chelsea may have won five games in a row, but will an unfamiliar XI be able to find any fluency? If PAOK are solid and well-organised, they could frustrate the visitors.

Ross Barkley will be given the task of dictating play for the Premier League leaders. He’s not played much football over the last year. A good performance could really help his cause.

If PAOK can keep things tight, they’ll look to put pressure on a Chelsea defence that hasn’t played together much recently. Emerson, Christensen, Gary Cahill and Zappacosta haven’t started a league game this term.

Match Odds

Chelsea are 6/10 favourites, with PAOK at 5/1. The draw is 29/10.

With so many regulars missing, Chelsea aren’t likely to be at their best though. Chelsea and Under 2.5 Goals is going for 13/5.

Morata is 6/1 to get a confidence-boosting goal, or 4/1 to open the scoring.

Nikolaos Karelis is the likeliest scorer for the hosts at 13/5. Akpom is 7/2 to get his first PAOK goal.

Click here for the latest Europa League odds.

Big match previews, betting tips and transfer news – Coral has it all.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing