Chelsea vs Valencia 18/09/19

18 September 2019

Chelsea and Valencia go head-to-head at Stamford Bridge for the opening match of Group H of the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League (CL) campaign. It will be their seventh European H2H, first since 2011/12, with the Spanish side failing to pick up a win in all six of their previous meetings with the Blues (D3, L3).

The hosts return to the most prestigious club competition in Europe after a year of absence having won the Europa League last season without suffering a single defeat (W12, D3). What’s more, the Pensioners have netted 37 goals in their last 16 European matches, bagging 3+ match goals in five of their previous nine such outings. However, the London giants have endured torrid time facing La Liga sides lately, as they’ve won just one of their previous eight clashes with the Spanish clubs (W1, D4, L3). Still, the Blues have lost only one of their last 11 trips to Spain (W3, D7, L1), losing 3-0 to Barcelona in the 2017/18 CL round of 16 second leg.

Meanwhile, the visitors, who qualified for the CL group stage for the second season in a row, will try to reach the knockout phase for the first time since 2012/13. Last year, they finished third in their respective group with a record of two wins, two draws, and two defeats. Moving to the Europa League knockout stage, the Bats have gone all the way down to the semi-finals where they were edged past by Arsenal. Valencia’s disappointing away record against the Premier League clubs (W3, D10, L6) can be a worrying fact for the traveling side even though they’ve lost just one of their last four visits to England (W2, D1, L1).