The Blues travel to Czech Republic today and here club statistician Paul Dutton begins our preview of the Europa League quarter-final first leg...
Chelsea in Numbers
The Blues are 13 games unbeaten in the Europa League. Our 2-2 draw at Vidi on matchday six ended a run of eight successive wins. Our last defeat in the competition was 2-3 at Rubin Kazan in the 2013 quarter-final second leg after we won 3-1 at the Bridge.
In the last round when we beat Dynamo Kiev 5-0, we recorded the club’s biggest ever away win in the UEFA Cup/Europa League, and best on the road in Europe since Schalke in 2014.
The Blues recorded our second biggest aggregate victory in Europe against Dynamo Kiev (8-0), behind our 21-0 win over Jeunesse Hautcharage in the first round of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1971/72.
This is Chelsea’s 10th European quarter-final since 2003/04. The Blues have progressed from nine of those ties, only being eliminated by Manchester United in the Champions League in 2010/11.
Chelsea have won more games (nine) and have a better goal difference (+21) than any other side in the Europa League this season.
| 1994/95 | Viktoria Zizkov | D 0-0 | Cup Winners’ Cup 1st round 2nd leg (agg 4-2) |
| 2003/04 | Sparta Prague | W 1-0 | Champions League group stage |
| 2012/13 | Sparta Prague | W 1-0 | Europa League round of 32 1st leg (agg 2-1) |
| 20 Sep | PAOK (a) | W 1-0 |
| 4 Oct | Vidi (h) | W 1-0 |
| 25 Oct | BATE Borisov (h) | W 3-1 |
| 8 Nov | BATE Borisov (a) | W 1-0 |
| 29 Nov | PAOK (h) | W 4-0 |
| 13 Dec | Vidi (a) | D 2-2 |
| 14 Feb | Malmo (a) round of 32 | W 2-1 |
| 21 Feb | Malmo (h) round of 32 | W 3-0 |
| 7 Mar | Dynamo Kiev (h) round of 16 | W 3-0 |
| 14 Mar | Dynamo Kiev (a) round of 16 | W 5-0 |
Europa League scorers
Giroud 9, Hudson-Odoi 4, Loftus-Cheek 3, Willian 3, Barkley 2, Morata 2, Alonso 1, Pedro 1
Chelsea's last six games
European games since
An away win: 0
An away draw: 2
An away defeat: 5
Chelsea’s next three games
Sunday 14 April - Liverpool v Chelsea - Premier League
Thursday 18 April - Chelsea v Slavia Prague - Europa League
Monday 22 April - Chelsea v Burnley - Premier League
MILESTONES
Davide Zappacosta’s next appearance will be his 50th for Chelsea in all competitions.
His season stats for the Europa League are below:
SLAVIA PRAGUE IN NUMBERS
Founded 1892
Honours
17 Czech league championships, last in 2017
8 Czech Cups, last in 2018
Slavia Prague are unbeaten in any competition for 10 games. Since they last suffered defeat against Viktoria Plzen on 17 February they have won seven and drawn two. Their last six games have yielded 21 goals.
The Czech side have won one of their previous nine games against English sides in Europe (two draws, six defeats) – this coming against Leeds United in March 2000 in the UEFA Cup (2-1).
Slavia Prague’s 2-1 victory at home to Leeds United in March 2000 was their most recent game in a European quarter final; they were eliminated having lost the first leg 0-3 at Elland Road. Their only progression from a European quarter final was in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup against Roma (3-3 on away goals).
Slavia Prague are looking to reach the semi-finals of the Europa League and in doing so become the first Czech side to get to a major European semi-final since they did it themselves in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup. That season, they were eliminated at the hands of French side Bordeaux in the semi-finals.
Slavia’s tally of four goals in the group stage was the fewest by any of the 32 qualified teams, including the eight who finished third in their Champions League group. They have scored 10 in their last three knockout fixtures.
Slavia have conceded more fouls than any other team in the Europa League this term (189). Only Dinamo Zagreb (29) have received more yellow cards than the Czech side (28).
| 2008/09 | Europa League – group stage (having transferred from Champions League third qualifying round) |
| 2009/10 | Europa League – group stage (having transferred from Champions League third qualifying round) |
| 2010/11 | Did not qualify |
| 2011/12 | Did not qualify |
| 2012/13 | Did not qualify |
| 2013/14 | Did not qualify |
| 2014/15 | Did not qualify |
| 2015/16 | Did not qualify |
| 2016/17 | Europa League – play-offs |
| 2017/18 | Europa League – group stage (having transferred from Champions League play-offs) |
| 1999/00 | Leeds | W 2-1 | UEFA Cup quarter-final second leg (agg 2-4) |
| 2006/07 | Tottenham | L 0-1 | UEFA Cup first round first leg (agg 0-2) |
| 2007/08 | Arsenal | D 0-0 | Champions League group |
| 2007/08 | Tottenham | L 1-2 | UEFA Cup third round first leg (agg 2-3) |
| 2008/09 | Aston Villa | L 0-1 | UEFA Cup group |
| 20-Sep | Bordeaux (h) | W 1-0 |
| 04-Oct | Zenit St Petersburg (a) | L 0-1 |
| 25-Oct | FC Copenhagen (a) | W 1-0 |
| 08-Nov | FC Copenhagen (h) | D 0-0 |
| 29-Nov | Bordeaux (a) | L 0-2 |
| 13-Dec | Zenit St Petersburg (h) | W 2-0 |
| P | W | D | L | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenit | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
| Slavia Prague | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Bordeaux | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| FC Copenhagen | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -2 | 5 |
| 14-Feb | Genk (h) round of 32 | D 0-0 |
| 21-Feb | Genk (a) round of 32 | W 4-1 |
| 07-Mar | Sevilla (a) round of 16 | D 2-2 |
| 14-Mar | Sevilla (h) round of 16 | W 4-3 aet |
Europa League scorers
Skoda 2, Stoch 2, Traore 2, Zmrhal 2, Coufal 1, Kral 1, Matousek 1, Ngadeu 1, Soucek 1 (pen), Van Buren 1.
Head coach Jindrich Trpisovsky
Days in charge: 465
Played: 59
Won: 41
Drawn: 9
Lost: 9
European games since
A home win: 0
A home draw: 1
A home defeat: 6
ROUND OF 16 SECOND LEG LINE UP
SLAVIA PRAGUE 4 SEVILLA 3
After extra time. Slavia Prague won 6-5 on aggregate
Sinobo Stadium, 14.03.19, 8pm
(4-2-3-1) Kolar; Kudela, Ngadeu, Deli, Boril; Soucek, Kral (Frydrych 106); Stoch (Van Buren 93), Traore, Masopust (Zmrhal 90+2); Skoda (Olayinka 77).
Booked Kolar, Kral, Olayinka, Soucek
Scorers Ngadeu 14, Soucek pen 46, Van Buren 102, Traore 119
Attendance 19,020
| Played | Goal difference | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Slavia Prague | 27 | 49 | 68 |
| 2 | Viktoria Plzen | 27 | 15 | 61 |
| 3 | Sparta Prague | 27 | 24 | 53 |
| 4 | Jablonec | 27 | 23 | 45 |
| 5 | Banik Ostrava | 27 | 5 | 42 |
| 6 | Mlada Boleslav | 27 | 6 | 38 |
| 7 | Sigma Olomouc | 27 | -6 | 37 |
| 8 | Slovan Liberec | 27 | 4 | 36 |
OTHERWISE ENGAGED
Slavia’s Tomas Soucek is suspended.
Jan Boril, Ondrej Kudela, Peter Olayinka, Milan Skoda and Benjamin Traore are all one yellow card away from missing the next match. Ross Barkley would also miss the second leg if he is booked on Thursday.
Booking list
Three and five yellow cards will result in a one match Europa League suspension.
Chelsea Barkley 2, Azpilicueta 1, Cahill 1, Higuain 1, Loftus-Cheek 1, Rudiger 1
Slavia Prague Boril 4*, Coufal 3*, Ngadeu 3*, Soucek 3, Kudela 2, Olayinka 2, Skoda 2, Traore 2, Baluta 1, Deli 1, Kolar 1, Kral 1, Masopust 1, Stoch 1, Van Buren 1.
* Already served a suspension for reaching three bookings.
Read: How Chelsea defeated Dynamo Kiev in the previous round