Chelsea vs Lille: The Londoners will create a good lead before the return game

Chelsea have beaten Lille in both head-to-head encounters in their history. Can the defending French champions avoid another defeat for the Londoners? We predict that the Blues will be stronger again!

Chelsea continue to show very decent football under Thomas Tuchel. The Blues do not claim titles in all the tournaments they play in, but they periodically add new pieces to their trophy collection. For example, in the first half of February, the London club managed to win the Club World Cup in a tough struggle, beating Al-Hilal and Palmeiras 1-0 and 2-1, respectively. In the next match after that success, the Pensioners suffered a 1-0 derby victory over Crystal Palace when Hakim Ziyech scored the only goal in the 89th minute. This win allowed Chelsea to prepare for the Champions League in good spirits, sitting third in the EPL standings.

At the end of last season, Lille were sensational champions but failed to keep their winning form and their coach left straight away. Nevertheless, the Red and Blue are not whipping boys, although they have slowed down this season. They have only managed one win in the last four rounds - against Montpellier 1-0, one draw against Metz 0-0, while they lost to Brest and PSG 0-2 and 1-5 respectively. Such uneven results leave Jocelyn Gourvennec's side just 11th in the local league table, but they performed well at the group stage of the Champions League and therefore continue to fight in the play-offs.

Chelsea and Lille have only ever played two head-to-head games. They took place in the group stage of the Champions League in the 2019/20 season, when both times the victory was celebrated by the players of the London club with the same score of 2-1.

Chelsea and Lille are very different teams this season. If the London club continues to walk in the group of leaders in the English championship, the Mastiffs are in the second half of the standings in the French championship. In the past, the Red and Blue, though they were unstable, played great against the top clubs, but now they've lost that quality as well, as they were thrashed PSG 1-5 just recently. Jocelyn Gourvennec's side has the least chance of success in the English capital, so Chelsea's victory with a handicap (-1.5) for 1.96 suggests a good bet.

The away goal rule is no longer in effect in the Champions League, which should have increased the output, but nothing of the sort has happened so far. The home side continues to act extremely cautiously to avoid mistakes at their own goal. This is especially true for Chelsea, who, under Thomas Tuchel, have been increasingly successful with a solid performance in front of their own goal. This season, the Blues have conceded just 18 goals in 25 games in the EPL (0.72 average per game), which is excellent. On this basis, Lille's Total Under 0.5 goals for 1.73 seems to be the best option.

Romelu Lukaku is having a very difficult season for Chelsea. If the Belgian showed fairy football in the Italian league a year earlier, now his performance has noticeably decreased under Thomas Tuchel, because of which there was even a small scandal between them. Nevertheless, the 28-year-old has resolved the conflict and continued to work on gradually improving his game. At the Club's World Cup, he scored goals in both games, indicating that he is in good form, so a bet on Romelu Lukaku's goal for 1.96 is now worth considering.