Chelsea vs. RB Salzburg Betting Tips: Blues begin life under Graham Potter

Chelsea’s Graham Potter era officially gets underway on Wednesday night following his switch from Brighton. The Englishman’s first taste of Blues action comes in the Champions League as his new side tackle Austrian champions RB Salzburg, which can be watched live on BT Sport 3 at 8pm.

Below you can find two player props for the battle at the Bridge…

Getting off to a winning start in any new job is key, but even more so in the managerial madland that is Chelsea. Winning silverware is simply not enough at this club. After all Tuchel won European and World honours during an eventful 19-month tenure, which ended last week after a shock defeat to Zagreb in Chelsea’s opening Group E game.

Tuchel’s successor, Potter, has no Champions League experience to draw on but he does have an assortment of tools in his managerial locker. He’s an emotionally intelligent, tactically flexible and progressive boss who faces the challenge of embedding his blueprint at the top echelon of the game. The Englishman has inherited a high-calibre cluster of players who are in need of some fine-tuning following their stuttering start. It’s going to be fascinating to see the approach he takes to what is undoubtedly the biggest job of his fledgling career to date.

After their out-of-sorts start to the season, Chelsea will hope the change in the dugout rejuvenates the team. Bookmakers really fancy the hosts to bag a debut win for Potter at 1/3, although they can expect to be tested against a RB Salzburg side that not only reached the knockout stages last season, but are unbeaten in seven matches and held Italian champs AC Milan last week. The visitors are 8/1 to return to Austria with the spoils, with the odds of 5/1 sure to attract a few takers.

The one criticism often thrown in Potter’s direction at Brighton was for all of his side’s movement and build-up play, there were times when they struggled to put the ball in the back of the net. Well, now Potter has a jukebox of talented and proven attacking options at his disposal, including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Kai Havertz, Raheem Sterling, and of course, Reece James. So let’s see what happens.

Potter is likely to employ three at the back, with James expected to revert to his favoured right wing-back position. We all know how much the player loves darting forward. His pace, power, and eye for goal make him a constant threat down that right flank, while he’s no stranger to having a dig at goal, whether that’s a speculative long-range effort or smashing home from inside the penalty box. 

James has had 13 shots in his last five Champions League appearances, five of which have been on target. He scored against Spurs in the league and there’s only been one game this season in which he’s failed to have a single shot. He’s hovering just above evens to have 1 shot on target against RB Salzburg, but it’s the hefty 13/2 for the defender to have 2 or more shots on target which I really favour, courtesy of BetVictor.

When analysing the shots on target markets another player that sprung out to me was Kalidou Koulibaly, who looks way overpriced at 11/4 (Paddy Power) to have a shot on target on Wednesday, even more so when compared to his odds-on 4/6 price at Sky Bet. What a huge contrast.

Since swapping Napoli for Chelsea this summer, Koulibaly has had six shots in five league games, three of which have been on target, including a goal in the 2-2 draw with Spurs. His ability in the air makes him a stand-out target at set-pieces, but not just with his head, his Spurs goal was a superb right-footed volley from a corner.