Chelsea will roll into Greece as the odds-on favourites for this Europa Conference League match. The Premier League club are a quote of 8/15 for the win at Bet365.
Chelsea are the outright tournament favourites, so that’s no great surprise to see them start at that kind of price. Panathinaikos, who only managed a draw against Bosnian side Borac Banja Luka on Matchday 1 are 9/2 outsiders.
Thursday’s meeting will be the first time the two clubs will have met. Chelsea are unbeaten in six (W4 D2) previous matches against Greek opposition, but their two draws from the record happened in Greece.
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca made a fair few changes to his starting line-up for their match against Gent in the opening round of the Conference League.
So expect more of the same to follow on Thursday night. Given that he didn’t come on until late into their Premier League defeat against Liverpool, Christopher Nkunku could be the central focus of Chelsea’s attack.
He should be fresh and has shown good goalscoring form this season, including scoring against Gent on Matchday 1. Joao Felix had some sublime touches in that opening match against Gent, and could likely play from the start along with Mykhaylo Mudryk.
