Chelsea vs Bayern Munich preview

Team news, stats and prediction as Bayern Munich travel to Chelsea in the last 16 of the Champions League.

Team news

Chelsea head coach Frank Lampard has confirmed that N’Golo Kante and Christian Pulisic (both abductor) will be absent for the visit of Bayern Munich to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night for the last-16 first-leg tie with the Bundesliga club.

Callum Hudson-Odoi will also miss the visit of former suitors Bayerm but Lampard revealed the forward is “not far away” from a Chelsea return.

Hudson-Odoi was long linked with a move to Bayern, until he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in April 2019. He has more recently been absent with a hamstring problem.

“(Christian) Pulisic is out, Hudson-Odoi is out, (N’Golo) Kante is out,” Lampard said at his pre-match press conference.

“Callum’s out, he’s not far away but not this game.”

Meanwhile, there was better news for Chelsea with Pedro and Ruben Loftus-Cheek both available.

“Pedro is back in contention having missed Saturday with a small problem,” said Lampard. “Ruben is fit, he’s in the squad.”

Bayern defender Niklas Sule is ruled out with a knee injury, while Ivan Perisic is sidelined with an ankle problem.

However, there is a boost for the Bundesliga champions with Javi Martinez is back in training after missing six games due to a torn muscle.

Opta stats

• Chelsea and Bayern Munich’s last Champions League encounter was the 2012 final – the London side won 4-3 on penalties (1-1 a.e.t.) at Bayern’s Allianz Arena.
• The four previous matches in all competitions between Chelsea and Bayern Munich have produced 17 goals, an average of 4.25 per game.
• Under the current format, Chelsea have reached the knockout stages of the Champions League 14 times in 17 seasons since 2003/04 – only Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich can boast more k/o appearances over that time. However, the Blues haven’t made it past the round of 16 since 2013/14.
• Bayern Munich have reached the Champions League knockout stages for the 12th consecutive season – only Real Madrid (23) and Barcelona (16) are on a longer run. The Bavarians have made it past the round of 16 in seven of the last eight campaigns, the only exception coming last season when they were eliminated by Liverpool.
• Bayern Munich won maximum points (18/18) and had a goal difference of +19 in the Champions League group stages this season, the best-ever performance by a team in the group phase of the competition. However, none of the previous six teams to have won all their group games have subsequently lifted the trophy that same season.

• Chelsea have been eliminated in each of their last four Champions League home/away ties, failing to win any of their eight knockout games in that period (D4 L4).
• Chelsea have won only one of their last six Champions League games at Stamford Bridge (D4 L1), a 2-1 victory against Lille last December.
• Since losing the 2012 Champions League final against Chelsea, Bayern Munich have eliminated English clubs in four of their five subsequent home/away ties in the competition.
• Chelsea and Bayern Munich scored the joint-most goals from set-piece in this season’s Champions League group stages (5), including three each from corner kicks.
• Chelsea manager Frank Lampard scored three goals in four Champions League games against Bayern Munich as a player, his joint-best record in the competition. He also converted one of the penalties in the victorious shoot-out in the 2012 final against the Bavarians.
• Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski has scored 10 goals in this season’s Champions League, only the second time he’s reached double figures in the tournament after 2012/13 with Borussia Dortmund. However, he has failed to find the net in his last 597 minutes in the knockout stages of the tournament, his longest drought.

Charlie Nicholas’ prediction

Chelsea got a very good result against Tottenham; I did anticipate that if they started Olivier Giroud, they would get something.

What Frank Lampard is doing, playing the youngsters, is excellent. I see a style, which I don’t with some of the other teams that are rebuilding.

But they are still unpredictable. There’s a vulnerability to them.

Bayern came and battered Tottenham, annihilated them, but they do struggle at the back and they are being questioned with RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund running them close in the Bundesliga.

They are not as good as they have been in the past; I think they’ve regressed since Jupp Heynckes. They play narrower with Philippe Coutinho and Serge Gnabry. Gnabry has proven a lot of us wrong, as he was not cutting the mustard at Arsenal, but he has been excellent.

But I think they will prevail here; I don’t think Chelsea are at this standard yet.

CHARLIE PREDICTS: Chelsea 1-3 Bayern Munich (12/1 with Sky Bet)

Super 6: Revenge to taste sweet?

In the first Champions League meeting between the two since Chelsea triumphed in Munich, 2012, 36 per cent of Super 6 players are predicting a 2-1 win for Bayern, with 73 per cent tipping them for victory. Play for free – entries by 7:45pm.

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