Djurgarden v Chelsea match preview
Chelsea will have a balance to strike as they look to take a big step towards the Conference League final on Thursday when they visit Djurgarden, just three days before hosting Premier League champions Liverpool.
The Blues are the overwhelming favourites to win the trophy, with a trip to Sweden marking their first European semi-final since winning the Champions League in 2021.
But returning to the Champions League is the priority for Chelsea, who are in a crowded battle for the top five places in the Premier League and can ill-afford any slip-ups.
Indeed, Chelsea are fifth, level on points with sixth-placed Nottingham Forest, who will move up to third with a win over Brentford on Thursday.
As such, a potential defeat to Liverpool could be a hammer blow for Chelsea, whose manager Enzo Maresca will need to manage his vast squad correctly to put them in the best position to continue progress in Europe and pull off an upset against Liverpool.
Djurgarden are playing in a European semi-final for the first time, having beaten Rapid Vienna in the quarter-finals.
They have nothing to lose as a result, and may take confidence from Chelsea’s unconvincing quarter-final performance against Legia Warsaw, which saw Maresca’s men lose the second leg.
As they look to carry momentum into the final stages of the race for the top five and a potential final with Real Betis or Fiorentina in Wroclaw, Chelsea will be determined to avoid a repeat of that kind of display.
Djurgarden v Chelsea team news
Maresca has left goalkeeper Robert Sanchez and forward Christopher Nkunku out of the 23-man squad for the trip to Sweden.
Chelsea are without the injured trio of Wesley Fofana, Omari Kellyman and Marc Guiu.
Full-back Malo Gusto faces a race to be fit following a minor issue that kept him out of the win over Everton.
Djurgarden v Chelsea predicted line-ups
Djurgarden: Rinne; Stahl, Une, Danielson, Kosugi; Stensson, Finndell; Priske, Gulliksen, Haarala; Nguen
Chelsea: Sanchez; Acheampong, Adarabioyo, Colwill, Cucurella; James, Dewsbury-Hall; Nkunku, Palmer, Sancho; Jackson
How to watch Djurgarden v Chelsea: Live stream, TV channel
Kick-off is at 20:00 on Thursday. The first leg of this tie will be on TNT Sports 4.
TNT Sports has four TV channels, up to six digital or red-button channels between TNT Sports 5 and TNT Sports 10, as well as TNT Sports Ultimate and TNT Sports Box Office HD. Fans can watch TNT Sports through BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media.
To find out the schedule for matches on TNT Sports, visit the schedule on TNT Sports’ website. Prices for TNT Sports vary. Visit TNT Sports for full details.
Djurgarden v Chelsea stats
In the last 4 Djurgarden home matches the sum of goals was under 1.5In 8 of the last 9 Djurgarden matches the sum of goals was under 3.5In 5 of the last 7 Djurgarden matches the sum of goals was under 1.5In 6 of the last 7 Djurgarden matches the sum of goals was under 2.5In 7 of the last 9 Djurgarden home matches in the Conference League, the sum of goals was over 2.5In 13 of the last 15 Chelsea matches the sum of goals was under 3.5In 11 of the last 12 Chelsea away matches the sum of goals was under 3.5Chelsea have won 8 of the last 10 matches in the Conference League while scoring more than 1.5 goalsChelsea have won the last 5 away matches in a row in the Conference League while scoring more than 1.5 goalsIn 8 of the last 10 Chelsea matches in the Conference League, the sum of goals was over 2.5
Prediction
Chelsea have more than enough strength in depth in their squad to win this game comfortably. Their poor recent performances suggest they might give Djurgarden a glimmer of hope by conceding, but the expectation is they will take command of the tie before finishing the job at Stamford Bridge.
Prediction: Djurgarden 1-3 Chelsea
