PAOK Thessaloniki vs Chelsea Predictions

PAOK start their now familiar Europa League group stage campaign with one of the most difficult matches of all as they host group favourites Chelsea on Thursday, but if they can get a result here it would put them in good stead to qualify from this interesting looking group.

The Greek side are regulars at this stage of the Europa League, but they very rarely find themselves achieving any more than the status of also-rans. They did fail to make it to the group stages last season, but prior to that they had reached this stage in each of their last four stages. However, the fact they only made the knockout rounds once in that period illustrates their status on the continental level, and that won’t be a good sign coming into this match.

In fact, their last European outing shows how far they are off the pace when compared to the big hitters of Europe. They were hammered 4-1 at home to Benfica in their Champions League playoff round, and now they face an in form Chelsea side managed by the entertaining Maurizio Sarri.

Sarri has certainly made his mark on Chelsea in the few short months he has been at the helm. At first there was concern around Stamford Bridge as the Italian trudged through a lethargic pre-season campaign before being easily beaten by Manchester City in the Community Shield. That concern has transformed into hope with the advent of the Premier League season though.

Their most recent efforts saw them come from a goal behind against Cardiff to win 4-1, and that result made it five wins from five for the Blues. They may not have been the pre-season favourites, but nobody can argue that they are looking like potential title challengers now.

We’re likely to see some fairly heavy rotation from Chelsea throughout this competition, but even so we expect them to have more than enough to get the job done on Thursday. PAOK have won just four of their last ten Europa League matches, and their most recent home match against top quality opposition was a 3-0 loss at the hands of Schalke last February.

The form of Chelsea should be enough to take them to a three point haul in Greece, so we’re backing a Chelsea Win along with a 2-1 correct score predictions.