Djurgardens vs Chelsea predictions: Blues to taste Swede success
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- Chelsea have won nine of their 10 Conference League fixtures
- Djurgardens are making their European semi-final debut
- Recommended bet: Chelsea to win and both teams to score
Enzo Maresca is more likely to be judged on where Chelsea finish in the Premier League this season, but their Conference League campaign brings with it a great shot at silverware.
The Blues have long been considered favourites to win Europe's tertiary competition this season and have barely broken a sweat in the tournament.
They lost 2-1 to Legia Warsaw in their most recent encounter, but had won the first leg 3-0 to put one foot in the semi-finals, while they have also beaten the likes of Gent, Copenhagen and Shamrock Rovers in this season's competition.
As for Djurgardens, this is uncharted territory as they prepare for their first European semi-final after beating Rapid Vienna in the last eight.
Team news
Djurgardens will be without forwards Oskar Fallenius and Nino Zugelj, who are injured, while midfielder Rasmus Schuller and Patric Aslund are also unavailable.
Recent signings Zakara Sawo and Filip Manojlovic are ineligible.
Midfielder Romeo Lavia and striker Nicolas Jackson have been back in contention for Chelsea and could start on Thursday.
Malo Gusto, meanwhile, is a doubt due to a minor thigh problem and the Blues are definitely without Wesley Fofana, Omari Kellyman, Marcu Guiu and Mykhailo Mudryk.
The stats
Chelsea have won nine of their 10 matches in the main Conference League tournament, but the Blues have surprisingly kept just four clean sheets as part of that run.
As for Djurgardens, they have scored in six of their last eight games in this season's Conference League.
Christopher Nkunku has impressed in this competition for the Blues, contributing five goals and three assists in nine appearances.
Prediction
It would be a surprise if Chelsea were to go into the second leg of this semi-final tie without an advantage.
For the most part the Blues have been head and shoulders above the rest of the teams competing in the Conference League this season and they have won nine of their 10 fixtures in the main tournament.
They topped the league phase standings with six wins from six games and 26 goals scored before making light work of Copenhagen and Legia Warsaw in the knockout stages.
Such is the strength in depth of Chelsea's squad, Maresca can field a second-string side and still blow teams away and they should win this first leg in Sweden pretty comfortably.
Djurgardens are 11th in the Swedish Allsvesnkan as it stands and they required extra-time to see off Rapid Vienna in the previous round.
However, they found the net in all six of their league phase fixtures and could get on the scoresheet against Chelsea, who have been guilty of complacency at times in this tournament.
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