Champions League football tip: Goals at both ends as Chelsea visit Dortmund
Joao Felix of Chelsea 12 Jan 2023
Borussia Dortmund host Chelsea in an enthralling Champions League tie on Wednesday, and Tipstrr football pundit Paul Bathurst expects both teams to put the opposing defences under pressure.
With Chelsea manager Graham Potter under increasing scrutiny, the Champions League could provide a welcome distraction to his side's domestic woes.
German giants Borussia Dortmund will be no push-overs, of course, but with Chelsea's star-studded squad, Potter will be optimistic of taking a positive result back to Stamford Bridge for the second leg.
The West London outfit have won just one match this year, that coming in mid-January in a 1-0 home victory against fellow Londoners Crystal Palace.
Following the numerous high-profile signings made by Chelsea, fans would have expected the five-time Premier League winners to quickly climb the table, but frustratingly it hasn't happened.
Defensively, The Blues appear to have shown some improvement, conceding just once in their past four matches, although their attacking threat still appears rather toothless, with them scoring on just four occasions in 2023.
Enzo Fernandez and Joao Felix, the two major signings of the January window, have shown signs of addressing the issues at Chelsea.
Felix got off the mark at the weekend in the 1-1 draw with West Ham, with Fernandez the man to claim the assist with a sublime through ball behind the Hammers defence.
Dortmund are flying high in the Bundesliga, currently sitting in third place, just three points behind league leaders Bayern Munich, after winning all of their six games since competitive football returned following the World Cup..
Die Borussen as Dortmund are affectionately known, are a side full of attacking talent with the likes of Karim Adeyemi, Gio Reyna and Marco Reus.
Captain Jude Bellingham is one of the world's most sought-after talents, and the Englishman is another huge goal threat with his late runs into the box from deep often resulting in chances.
Scoring goals has not been an issue this campaign, although defensively Dortmund can often look vulnerable.
In the aforementioned six wins this year, Dortmund have kept just two clean sheets, which came in 2-0 away wins at Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen.
Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel had a major part to play in both of those clean sheets, with Werder and especially Leverkusen missing multiple chances to score.
Four of Dortmund's six Champions League groups stage matches led to both opponents scoring, with all six games providing a total of 17xG.
Chelsea managed to beat AC Milan to nil both times they faced the Italian champions, although Dinamo Zagreb and Red Bull Salzburg managed to score in each of their matches against the English side.
With Chelsea supporters and hierarchy undoubtedly expecting results to change quickly, Graham Potter is likely to see this match as an opportunity to relieve pressure.
Edin Terzic's side are a very capable outfit and will hope to take a positive result in their home leg if they are to progress.
However their defensive weaknesses are likely to be frequently exploited by the guile and creativity that Chelsea's new signings have already displayed in their limited outings.
It would be a surprise if either side kept a clean sheet in this match up, making both sides to score appealing at around a price of 8/11.
