Chelsea will travel to Signal Iduna Park this Wednesday to face Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of the 2022/23 round of 16.
The hosts come into this tie on the back of an impressive 2-0 win over Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga. The win was their sixth consecutive win in all competitive games after the restart, with each of those games seeing them score at least twice each occasion.
Their results, plus a patchy run of form by Bayern Munich, has seen the Black and Yellow move to within three points of the top spot in the Bundesliga. So they will welcome Chelsea to this tie full of confidence yet desperate to improve on a winless record from their last 12 games against British clubs (D3, L9).
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However, Chelsea will travel to Germany in patchy form, having won just once in their last eight outings in 2023 (D4, L3). Despite being richly loaded in attack, they also failed to score more than once in any of those games.
With the pressure mounting on manager Graham Potter, there is a feeling that his performance in the UCL could determine, to a large extent, how long he will last in Stamford Bridge this season.
However, the manager has a good European record as he won his first four UCL games and could become the first English manager to win five consecutive UCL matches.
However, overall, Chelsea’s record in the UCL round-of-16 remains patchy, as they have progressed from this stage of the competition just twice in their last six attempts.
Given Dortmund’s form at home, this will be another tough outing for Chelsea, and this game will likely feature goals from both teams. Click here for the best BTTS/GG bets.
