After a lackluster start to their Premier League season, chelsea will hope that a return to European competition will offer them the chance to build momentum across the board. However, they will travel to Croatia well aware that the Maksimir Stadium has been something of a graveyard for British teams.
tottenham and Arsenal have lost Dinamo Zagreb in recent years and the Croatian champions are unbeaten in 19 home games in all competitions, beating Bodo/Glimt 4-1 in the play-off round to overturn a first-leg deficit and reach the knockout stage of groups. They haven’t gone any further with the newer competitor formats and aren’t likely to do so this time. However, Ante Cacic’s side could well cause an upset or two in the coming weeks. Here’s how you can watch the match and what you need to know:
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- Date: Tuesday, September 6 | Weather: 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time
- Location: Maksimir Stadium — Zagreb, Croatia
- Live streaming: Paramount+
- Odds: Dynamo +600; Draw +333; Chelsea -225 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
arguments
Dynamo: The Croatian team’s participation in the Champions League can often offer a glimpse of the best and brightest talent emerging from a nation that consistently punches above its weight when it comes to talent production. A player to keep in mind will be marko bulata 20-year-old midfielder who shone with newly promoted Sibenik in the top flight last year and has now signed for Dinamo.
A name more familiar to the world audience might be Mislav Orsic, the man who knocked Tottenham out of the Europa League in 2021 with a hat-trick. He scored the crucial aggregate equalizer against Bodo/Glimt last month, but he won’t have to shoulder the scoring burden alone with Bruno Petkovic and the summer signing. Josip Drmic having hit a strong streak of form earlier in the campaign.
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Chelsea: A win over West Ham on Saturday could have sent the Blues top of the Premier League table, but it could have been another frustrating weekend for Thomas Tuchel were it not for a VAR intervention that the Premier League requested that be investigated, it was so controversial. Meanwhile, the goal actually given to the Hammers was the fourth Chelsea have conceded offside already this season, two more than the 19 games Tuchel was in charge of in 2020-21.
It is an issue that Tuchel has framed as more mental than technical and after the 2-1 loss to Southampton last week he said his team “isn’t strong enough to win these away games at the moment”. That will surely have been music to the ears of Dinamo supporters providing a more intimidating cauldron of noise than St Mary’s or Elland Road.
Prediction
Chelsea have the quality to win this handily enough but are struggling on the road and will be up against a side that see nothing to fear against Premier League opponents. Why shouldn’t the Champions League start strong? TO CHOOSE: Dynamo 2, Chelsea 1
