Chelsea conclude the league stage of the Europa Conference League with the visit of Shamrock Rovers on Thursday evening.
The blues have already qualified for the round of 16 of the competition after last week’s 3-1 victory over Kazakh Astanabut they will be keen to maintain their perfect record from the league stage and finish top on Thursday.
Chelsea are the only team to have won all five league stage encounters and have done so at a gallop despite making radical changes to their starting line-up in each outing. Enzo Maresca will present a much changed eleven on Thursday in what should be an eighth consecutive victory in all competitions.
Ireland’s Shamrock Rovers remain unbeaten in the league stage but can only guarantee direct passage to the last 16 with victory on Thursday. However, they are assured of a place in the play-offs after three wins and two draws.
here it is 90 minutes guide to Chelseathe last European meeting of the year.
Chelsea vs Shamrock Rovers H2H Record
This is the first competitive match between Chelsea and Shamrock Rovers.
Current form (all competitions)
|
Chelsea |
Shamrock Rovers |
|---|---|
|
Chelsea 2-1 Brentford – 15/12/25 |
Shamrock Rovers 3-0 Borac Banja Luka – 12/24/12 |
|
Astana 1-3 Chelsea – 12/24/12 |
Rapid Wien 1-1 Shamrock Rovers – 28/11/24 |
|
Tottenham 3-4 Chelsea – 08/12/24 |
Shamrock Rovers 2-1 TNS – 07/11/24 |
|
Southampton 1-5 Chelsea – 04/12/24 |
Shamrock Rovers 2-1 Waterford – 01/11/24 |
|
Chelsea 3-0 Aston Villa – 01/12/24 |
Dundalk 0-1 Shamrock Rovers – 27/10/24 |
|
country |
TV channel/live broadcast |
|---|---|
|
united kingdom |
Application TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports Ultimate, discovery+, discovery+ |
|
united states |
Paramount+, ViX |
|
canada |
DAZN Canada |
Mykhailo Mudryk will be missing for the match on Thursday recently failed a drug test. The Ukrainian, who has been a regular at the League of Conferenceshe has been provisionally suspended from football and could receive a lengthy ban.
Wesley Fofana and Reece James are still out with hamstring injuries, although the former is not included in Chelsea’s league stage squad. That also applies to Cole Palmer, who will earn a midweek rest.
Benoit Badiashile missed the weekend win through injury and Maresca has yet to clarify how long he will be sidelined, while Marc Cucurella is available on Thursday despite receive a red card against Brentford. He will miss Chelsea’s Premier League game with Everton next weekend.
Many of those who started in Chelsea’s 2-1 win against Brentford on Sunday will not feature against Shamrock Rovers. It is likely that Maresca will rotate much of his starting eleven and give opportunities to marginal and young players again.
Predicted Chelsea vs Shamrock Rovers line-up (4-2-3-1): Jorgensen; Acheampong, Adarabioyo, Disasi, Cucurella; Casadei, Dewsbury-Hall; George, Nkunku, Felix; dude
Shamrock Rovers ended their league season at the start of November and suffered a final day disappointment as Shelbourne beat them to the title. However, they have not let any rust affect their European performances, with two wins and a draw in the Conference League since then.
Chelsea will be a completely different proposition to Stephen Bradley’s side and they will be huge underdogs on Thursday. However, they have a couple of players who could cause the Blues problems, including 21-year-old star striker Johnny Kenny, who has scored five in as many league stage games.
Shamrock Rovers predicted line-up against Chelsea (3-5-2): Pohls; Cleary, Lopes, Grace; Honohan, O’Neil, Poom, Watts, Burns; Farrugia, Kenny.
Chelsea have made it through the league stage and should have no trouble maintaining their perfect record on Thursday evening. Rovers have proved a tough team for some of the competition’s lesser entrants, but a trip to Stamford Bridge should prove too daunting.
The Blues will make sweeping changes to their starting eleven, but some first-team players will likely win away to keep them fresh. That could spell trouble for Rovers, who have only played a handful of games over the past two months.
