Slavia Praha Vs Chelsea Lineups: Hazard Out, Sarri Makes 7 Changes

Chelsea will face Slavia Prague tonight in the Czech Republic as they look to secure a strong position for themselves in their Europa League quarter-final tie.

Having got themselves back into the top four with a victory over West Ham on Monday night Maurizio Sarri will now be looking for a victory at the Sinobo Stadium in their first leg of their quarter-final to help them secure passage to the semi-finals of the competition.

They have yet to lose a game in the Europa League and will be hoping to continue that tonight in Prague, but Sarri will make wholesale changes as he looks to navigate a fixture-heavy April.

SLAVIA PRAHA VS CHELSEA PRE MATCH INSIGHTS

This will be the first ever competitive meeting between Slavia Prague and Chelsea. The Czech side have won just one of their previous nine games against English sides in Europe (D2 L6) – this coming against Leeds United in March 2000 in the UEFA Cup (2-1).
This is Chelsea’s 10th European quarter-final since 2003-04. The Blues have progressed from nine of those ties, only being eliminated by Manchester United in the Champions League in 2010-11.
Slavia Prague’s 2-1 victory at home to Leeds United in March 2000 was their most recent game in a European quarter-final; they were eliminated having lost the first leg 0-3 at Elland Road. Their only progression from a European quarter-final was in the 1995-96 UEFA Cup against Roma (3-3 on away goals).
Chelsea have won more games (nine) and have a better goal difference (+21) than any other side in the UEFA Europa League this season.
Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud is the top scorer in this season’s Europa League with nine goals. The last player to surpass this figure in a single UEFA Europa League season was Aritz Aduriz, who netted 10 goals for Athletic Club in 2015-16.

SLAVIA PRAHA VS CHELSEA LINEUPS

SLAVIA PRAHA (3-5-1-1) LINEUP