UEFA Champions League: Qarabag vs Chelsea preview

Chelsea travel far away from home on Wednesday to face Azerbaijan champions Qarabag at the Baku National Stadium. The Blues won the reverse fixture quite comfortably, it ended 6-0 at Stamford Bridge in the opening match of the group stage, but since then Qarabag improved their performances and results quite significantly. The champions of Azerbaijan have also met Tottenham in the Europa League group stage in 2015 and lost both meetings, 3-1 in London and 1-0 at home. Qarabag started their Champions League campaign quite early as they had to go through three qualifying rounds before reaching the group stage. They were the underdogs in the final qualification round against FC Copenhagen, but they squeezed through thanks to a 1-0 victory at home before a 2-1 defeat in Denmark. After getting beaten by Chelsea 6-0 they only lost 2-1 to Roma at home and then held Atletico Madrid to consecutive draws. Dino Ndlovu has served his suspension and should be included in the starting eleven. Chelsea really need to avoid an upset in Baku, they will secure qualification if they win but if they don't then Atletico Madrid could move very close to the Blues before their direct match. The reverse fixture result will give Antonio Conte's men confidence, along with last weekend's 4-0 victory at West Brom in the Premier League. They will have to be focused and determined, though, playing in Baku is not easy and both Roma and Atletico Madrid have felt that. Victor Moses and Michy Batshuayi are injured and won't be able to play on Wednesday. Probable line-ups: Qarabag: Sehic - Medvedev, Rzezniczak, Sadiqov, Agolli - Qarayev - Henrique, Michel, Almeida, Madatov - Seydaev Chelsea: Courtois - Rudiger, Luiz, Cahill - Azpilicueta, Kante, Bakayoko, Alonso - Pedro, Hazard - Morata My prediction: Chelsea to win 1-0. Here are the odds for the match at Bet365: Qarabag win - 11.00 Draw - 5.50 Chelsea win - 1.33