Paul Merson names the only two teams that could knock Chelsea out of the Champions League
According to Paul Merson, Chelsea’s progression to the semi-finals of the Champions League hinges on avoiding two particular teams in the upcoming draw.
Graham Potter’s team endured a poor run of results recently, but they seem to have turned things around by winning their last three games, including a 2-0 triumph over Borussia Dortmund that earned them a spot in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League.
Chelsea will find out their next opponent on Friday, once the round of 16 matches have concluded.
Chelsea is among the teams in the draw, along with Bayern Munich, AC Milan, and Benfica, Inter Milan, and Man City.
The identity of the other team will be determined by the outcome of the clashes between Real Madrid and Liverpool and Napoli and Frankfurt.
Merson opines that Chelsea need only worry about two of the prospective opponents in the draw, and he believes that they should be able to maintain their winning form if the draw works in their favor.
“It was an outstanding week for Chelsea, with wins over Leeds, Dortmund and Leicester, and now with Everton at home next they can get on a roll,’ the Arsenal legend wrote for Sky Sports.
“If the Champions League quarter-final draw goes their way, bar Man City and Bayern Munich, I don’t think too many teams will want to play Chelsea. If they don’t meet those two then I think they’ll get through to the semi-finals.”
This season, the two leading contenders for Europe’s most prestigious trophy are City and Bayern, with the latter being particularly favored due to their unbeaten record in the competition thus far, having won all eight matches, including both legs of their round of 16 tie against PSG.
For Chelsea, the Champions League is their sole remaining chance at silverware, and it could also be their only route to next season’s competition, as they are still 11 points behind the Premier League’s top four, despite their impressive win over Leicester last Saturday.
“Chelsea are a dangerous animal, they’ve got some unbelievable players and they just need to click – at times against Leicester they did,” Merson added.
“Bad teams don’t score the goals like they did, two of them were unbelievable. Kai Havertz’s flick has to go down as one of the goals of the season, you’re not seeing that on a Sunday morning.
“Graham Potter has switched to three at the back and it’s working. It’s taken a while for him to get it right but it’s 100 per cent better than with four in defence.’
“Chelsea are a dangerous animal, they’ve got some unbelievable players and they just need to click – at times against Leicester they did,’ Merson added.
“Bad teams don’t score the goals like they did, two of them were unbelievable. Kai Havertz’s flick has to go down as one of the goals of the season, you’re not seeing that on a Sunday morning.
“Graham Potter has switched to three at the back and it’s working. It’s taken a while for him to get it right but it’s 100 per cent better than with four in defence.”
Paul Merson names the only two teams that could knock Chelsea out of the Champions League
