Panathinaikos vs Chelsea – Match Preview and Team News | OneFootball

Chelsea face Greek side Panathinaikos on Thursday evening in their second offering of Europa Conference League football.

It will be a first encounter between the two sides, as the Blues look to achieve successive victories in European football’s newest competition.

Enzo Maresca has opted to rest several players for their trip to Athens, including the likes of Malo Gusto, Levi Colwill and Reece James, with the latter being managed after recently returning from his well-documented injury problems.

Moises Caicedo and Nicolas Jackson have also not boarded the flight as the pair had long trips back from their respective international exploits.

Those players join Wesley Fofana, Romeo Lavia and Cole Palmer at Cobham, as the trio were omitted from the Italian’s 25-player squad for the Europa Conference League group phase.

Panathinaikos vs Chelsea – Match Preview and Team News

Form

Panathinaikos: WLDDW

Panathinaikos have had a shaky start to the season and currently occupy sixth position in the top flight of Greek football.

In their opening European outing, they were held to a 1-1 draw away at Borac Banja Luka, a club hailing from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Panathinaikos possess a rich history in European competition and are the only Greek team to have reached a UEFA Champions League final, losing to an Ajax team including Johan Cruyff in 1971. An opponent like Chelsea coming to town will make those memories of hallowed European nights come flooding back.

Uruguayan head coach Diego Alonso has a few familiar faces at his disposal including former Leicester City winger Tete and ex-Manchester United attacker Facundo Pellestri.

At the weekend they scraped past OFI Crete with an early Tete strike the difference on the Greek Island.

Chelsea: WWWDL

The Blues will be aiming to bounce back in Athens as they look to recover quickly from their loss to Liverpool at the weekend.

Maresca’s side competed throughout but Liverpool had too much quality and maturity for a youthful Chelsea as they ran out 2-1 winners.

The West Londoners have excelled this season under the new manager but have shown they are susceptible to mistakes in recent weeks, with a home draw against Nottingham Forest preceding that defeat to Liverpool.

In the Europa Conference League, Chelsea got off to an encouraging start as they beat Gent 4-2 at Stamford Bridge.

This competition could be a fruitful avenue for silverware for Maresca and his players and another win tonight will place them in a favourable position to qualify. There are only six fixtures in the group phase compared to the eight group matches that the Champions League and Europa League have.

Last Meeting: N/A

Thursday’s game will be the first time the two sides have played each other.

Predicted Lineups

Panathinaikos: Dragowski, Vagiannidis, Jedvaj, Ingason, Mladenovic; Arao, Ounahi; Tete, Pellesti, Djuricic, Jeremejeff.

Chelsea: Jorgensen, Disasi, Tosin, Badiashile, Veiga; Fernandez, Dewsbury-Hall; Neto, Felix, Mudryk, Nkunku/

Who is the referee?

Portuguese referee António Nobre will be the match official. He will be assisted by Pedro Ribeiro and Nelson Pereira while Gustavo Correia will be the fourth official. The VAR is André Narciso and he will be assisted by Helder Malheiro.

What channel is Panathinaikos vs Chelsea on?

Panathinaikos vs Chelsea will be available to watch on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+.

What time is kick off?

Kick off at the Athens Olympic Stadium will be at 17:45 BST on Thursday 24th October 2024.

Odds

Panathinaikos – 9/2

Draw – 16/5

Chelsea – 11/20

Read – Champions League Awards – ‘Ballon d’ Or Vinicius’ sublime

See more – Champions League Team of the Week – Vinicius, Raphinha star

Follow The Football Faithful on Social Media:

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | TikTok