Chelsea vs. Lille Predictions: Expect chances in an exciting game

Live on BT Sport, the current Champions of Europe Chelsea host Lille in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions league at Stamford Bridge this Tuesday at 8pm.

The hosts finished runners up in Group H with 13 points while Lille finished top of Group G with 11 points. Tuchel’s men come into this game off the back of winning the Club World Cup 2 weeks ago and most recently beating Crystal Palace 1-0 away from home in the premier league via a 90th minute Hakim Ziyech winner. Despite these wins, Chelsea’s goalscoring issues still exist with their star striker Romelu Lukaku registering a record low 7 touches in their away win over Palace.

The blues have not scored more than 1 goal inside 90 minutes of their last 4 games in all competitions. Tuchel will be concerned about these stats and his team will need to show a lot of improvement if they are to retain their Champions League title this season.

They will be up against the current French Champions Lille, who are having a poor season by their standards, and currently sit 11th in the Ligue 1 table. The visitors come into this clash in poor form, having won just 2 out of their last 7 games in all competitions. They were disappointing in their draw against Metz at home this weekend and now face an extremely tough task of going away to the European Champions. They have played each other twice in 2019 and the English side managed to win both times so history and form are both siding with Tuchel’s men.

An exciting Champions League clash awaits us and as usual, I have you covered with 2 of my best betting angles included in the preview below:

Team News:

Reece James & Ben Chilwell are out for Chelsea while Azpilicueta, Mount & Hudson-Odoi are doubtful.

Orestis Karnezis is out for Lille while Angel Gomes is doubtful.

Chelsea possible starting lineup:

Mendy; Christensen, Silva, Rudiger; Azpilicueta, Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso; Ziyech, Havertz; Werner

Lille possible starting lineup:

Jardim; Celik, Fonte, Botman, Gudmundsson; Weah, Andre, Sanches, Bamba; David, Yilmaz

Chelsea deservedly go into this game as heavy favourites and I expect the defending European Champions to dominate and get the win here. Lille are on a poor run and Chelsea are a different team in this competition in recent times. Their last Champions League home game saw them beat Juventus 4-0 and I think with home fans cheering them on, they will be able to beat Lille for a 3rd consecutive time in this competition.

Chelsea have seen the “under 5 goals” selection land in their last 15/16 games in all competitions and considering Chelsea’s goalscoring issues, I think this is a fairly safe option to go for. Finally, Chelsea are averaging 17.6 shots in the champions league so far this season and 16.8 shots at home in the premier league. They should easily be able to clear the Over 11.5 shots line for our bet. Combining these 3 selections gives us a solid bet-builder @ 4/5 and I am happy to stake 1pt on it as our main bet for this Champions League clash.

Benjamin Andre averages the most fouls (2.1) and most tackles (3.7) in the league and has already seen 3 yellow cards in 5 Champions League games so far this season. Hakim Ziyech is the man in form for the blues at the moment having scored 3 goals in his last 5 starts for Chelsea. He is expected to start here and be heavily involved and I can see him continuing his excellent goalscoring form against Lille in the Champions League as well. Combining these 2 selections gives us a cracking long shot double @ 17/2 and I am happy to stake a very small 0.25pt on that.

Best of luck if you follow these selections. Please always gamble responsibly.