Chelsea vs Bayern Munich. UEFA Champions League First Knockout Round.
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Tuesday 25 February 2020 18:45, UK
Team news, stats and prediction as Bayern Munich travel to Chelsea in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Chelsea head coach Frank Lampard has confirmed that N'Golo Kante and Christian Pulisic (both abductor) will be absent for the visit of Bayern Munich to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night for the last-16 first-leg tie with the Bundesliga club.
Callum Hudson-Odoi will also miss the visit of former suitors Bayern but Lampard revealed the forward is "not far away" from a Chelsea return.
Hudson-Odoi was long linked with a move to Bayern, until he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in April 2019. He has more recently been absent with a hamstring problem.
"(Christian) Pulisic is out, Hudson-Odoi is out, (N'Golo) Kante is out," Lampard said at his pre-match press conference.
"Callum's out, he's not far away but not this game."
Meanwhile, there was better news for Chelsea with Pedro and Ruben Loftus-Cheek both available.
"Pedro is back in contention having missed Saturday with a small problem," said Lampard. "Ruben is fit, he's in the squad."
Bayern defender Niklas Sule is ruled out with a knee injury, while Ivan Perisic is sidelined with an ankle problem.
However, there is a boost for the Bundesliga champions with Javi Martinez is back in training after missing six games due to a torn muscle.
Chelsea got a very good result against Tottenham; I did anticipate that if they started Olivier Giroud, they would get something.
What Frank Lampard is doing, playing the youngsters, is excellent. I see a style, which I don't with some of the other teams that are rebuilding.
But they are still unpredictable. There's a vulnerability to them.
Bayern came and battered Tottenham, annihilated them, but they do struggle at the back and they are being questioned with RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund running them close in the Bundesliga.
They are not as good as they have been in the past; I think they've regressed since Jupp Heynckes. They play narrower with Philippe Coutinho and Serge Gnabry. Gnabry has proven a lot of us wrong, as he was not cutting the mustard at Arsenal, but he has been excellent.
But I think they will prevail here; I don't think Chelsea are at this standard yet.
CHARLIE PREDICTS: Chelsea 1-3 Bayern Munich (12/1 with Sky Bet)
Super 6: Revenge to taste sweet?
In the first Champions League meeting between the two since Chelsea triumphed in Munich, 2012, 36 per cent of Super 6 players are predicting a 2-1 win for Bayern, with 73 per cent tipping them for victory. Play for free - entries by 7:45pm.