Chelsea v Malmo: Preview and possible line-ups

TEAM NEWS

Chelsea

Being in the middle of a glut of fixtures, Maurizio Sarri is likely to swap Gonzalo Higuain, who started the 2-0 defeat to Manchester United, for Olivier Giroud. Willian and Callum Hudson-Odoi could also return to the starting line-up, while it remains to be seen if Marcos Alonso, who is reported to have had a spat with Sarri, stays at left-back ahead of Emerson Palmieri.

Malmo

Uwe Rosler is not faced with any new injury troubles, so may stick with the same team that caused Chelsea problems in the first leg. Attacking options Oscar Lewicki and Carlos Strandberg came off the bench for Malmo in the first leg and will be pushing for a start, but Rosler is most likely to stick with his Markus Rosenberg and Marcus Antonsson.

MANAGERS' THOUGHTS

Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri on getting back on track and Chelsea's lack of leaders:

"It’s a tough week for us but how to fix it? The easiest thing is to get back and get results and because it’s all based on results. When we had them no one was talking about these things."

"People like to say because we had leaders before, which is fair enough, but we weren’t talking about leaders in our unbeaten run. It’s all based on results and we are not speaking about leaders. Sometimes it’s hard to replace people like Terry."

Malmo manager Uwe Rösler on his game plan for beating Chelsea:

"So it's important we impress in the right areas, knowing where they will press us and how we can get out of their press. I think we will get opportunities."

"The mindset tomorrow is 'no respect'. We have to play and be aggressive with and without the ball. We have a plan. With a bit of luck and some outstanding performances, we can get a result."

FORM GUIDE

DID YOU KNOW?

Of all 32 teams still in the Europa League, Malmo have had the oldest starting XI on average in the competition so far, at 29 years and 353 days old.

Chelsea have had more shots and completed more passes than any other team in the Europa League this season.

Swedish sides have won just once in their last seven European clashes away to English teams.

POSSIBLE LINE-UPS

Chelsea: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Luiz, Christensen, Emerson; Kante, Jorginho, Barkley; Willian, Giroud, Hudson-Odoi.

Malmo: Dahlin; Nielsen, Bengtsson, Safari; Vindheim, Christiansen, Bachirou, Traustason, Rieks; Rosenberg, Antonsson.