The match between Malmo and Chelsea takes place at 3:00 am on February 15 as part of the first leg of the Europa League round of 16. Chelsea had to win this match to regain the trust of fans after a crushing 0-6 defeat to Manchester City.
Chelsea are having a lot of problems after losing to Man City. A serious psychological crisis as well as many disagreements appeared after the terrible night at Etihad. The future of Coach Sarri is the hottest topic of discussion recently.
In addition, Chelsea is a team that has a tradition of changing coaches "as a shirt", when the owner Abramovich has never been patient with his coaches. Sarri is even the coach with the highest risk of unemployment in the Premier League according to leading bankers.
Home side Malmo have been on a two-month break since their Europa League group stage clash with Besiktas on 13 December. Malmo has won 2nd place in Group I with 9 points, behind Genk ( Belgium) to be included in the round of 32. The Swedish team has a strong defensive position, with an average conceding goal difference of less than 1 goal/match.
Chelsea's away form in recent times has been extremely alarming. In the last 4 matches in the two front lines of the League Cup and Premier League, when having to leave Stamford Bridge, the blue team could not score even just one goal.
Maybe Malmo is not a very strong team, but with the current instability, Chelsea will also have a hard time facing them. If they lose, it could be the end of Sarri's short reign at Chelsea.
Expected lineup
Malmo (3-5-2): Dahlin Nielsen, Bengtsson, Safari Vindheim, Christiansen, Bachirou, Lewicki, Rieks Rosenberg, Antonsson
Chelsea (4-3-3): Kepa Azpilicueta, Cahill, Christensen, Emerson Kante, Ampadu, Kovacic, Loftus Cheek, Higuain, Willian
Predicted results: 1-3
