Chelsea vs Valencia Predictions

Frank Lampard makes his European debut as a manager on Tuesday night after getting a boost from his young stars. The former England man featured over 100 times for the Blues in Europe during his career as a player, but he is aiming for more European success as the club’s manager. His young side seem to be up and running, but are they ready for Champions League football?

The Blues’ boss was boisterous about his charges after their 5-2 win at Wolves, saying the players were there on merit. The Blues have seen a high scoring start, with all of their goals coming from Under-21 eligible English players. That is quite the return for a Chelsea side who famously neglect their academy. Their shift in focus has seen them hand out more minutes to young English players this season than in any of the last 14 full campaigns. However, they now face the step up to the highest level.

Unlike Chelsea, Valencia were on the wrong end of a 5-2 thumping at the weekend. They are down in 14th place in the table after a poor start, with their defensive issues looking perfect for this Chelsea team. Given that the visitors head here without a win in five away trips in the Champions League, they seem like a great side for the young Blues to kick things off against.

The big issue for Chelsea has been defensively this term. While they’ve offered chances to young defenders, Cesar Azpilicueta has been notably poor. With just a key part of their back-line struggling, it’s no wonder that Chelsea have been too open. The Blues have shipped two goals in four of their five Premier League games so far. With newly promoted sides Norwich and Sheffield United both cutting them open with ease so far, there should be chances for the visitors.

On the bright side, the likes of Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham look to be in excellent form. The young players should be raring to go and they are unlikely to struggle with the pressure. This is a soft introduction which gives them the chance to find their feet going forward, while the likes of Willian or Christian Pulisic add extra threat. However, we also can’t look past the Blues’ defensive record, which points to them struggling in the Champions League this term. Given their goal-packed start domestically, we’re backing Chelsea to kick off their campaign in this group with over 2.5 goals in the game.

We are backing Chelsea to get off to a winning start, but their habit of conceding twice is worrying. Valencia have scored twice in back to back games, but they shipped five to a youthful Barca side. We think that the Spanish side will struggle in this trip, so we are backing a 3-2 victory for the Blues on Tuesday.