Chelsea bring just a narrow one-goal advantage into the second leg from last week’s first in this UEFA Conference League Round of 16 matchup, so there is a job to do still tonight against FC Copenhagen to ensure our place in the quarterfinals.

A draw would do of course, but having won three in a row in all competitions, it would be even nicer to maintain that winning momentum into the weekend’s visit to the Emirates.

But let us not look too far ahead. As important as it may be to finish in the top four (or five, depending on coefficients) and qualify for next year’s Champions League, it’s equally as important to get back to winning trophies. Ideally this season will be the first and only time we’ll ever play in the Conference League, so let us not miss out on a chance to collect this trinket and add it to our trophy cabinet.

“The priority is tomorrow. For us, the priority is tomorrow because it is the next one and the most important one. After tomorrow, we will start to think about Arsenal, but for sure we will be focused on tomorrow’s game.”

-Enzo Maresca; source: Football.London

Date / Time: Thursday, March 13, 2025, 20.00 GMT; 4pm EDT; 1:30am IST (next day)

Venue: Stamford Bridge, SW6

Referee: Radu Petrescu (on pitch); Andrei Chivulete (VAR)

Forecast: Cold and damp

On TV: TNT Sports 4 (UK); none (USA); Sony Ten 5 (India); SuperSport MáXimo 3 (NGA); elsewhere

Streaming: discovery+ (UK); Paramount+ (USA); Sony LIV (India); DStv Now (NGA)

Chelsea team news: While the club’s injury situation has been improving, a bit of illness had swept through the team over the past few days, forcing Reece James to miss out over the weekend and both Cole Palmer and Christopher Nkunku to miss training this week as well. Palmer did try to play through it on Sunday, without much success (including the first ever missed penalty of his senior professional career). All three are questionable and will be gametime decisions.

Unfortunately, Malo Gusto looks set to miss a second consecutive game, while Nicolas Jackson, Noni Madueke, and Marc Guiu are not expected back until after the upcoming international break. We will also be without newly fit Wesley Fofana and almost fit again Roméo Lavia as they are not registered for this competition.

FC Copenhagen team news: Copenhagen managed only a draw over the weekend against the third worst team in the Danish Superliga, dropping them out of first place with one round left in the regular season, before the league breaks in half for the final 10 rounds of the season. Copenhagen have now dropped four points in their last two league games to blow the two-horse race with Midtjylland wide open.

The one big change to the team from last week will be the return of Mohamed Elyounoussi, while both Thomas Delaney and Jordan Larsson have traveled with the squad after missing the first leg. Kevin Diks, who left the first leg with injury late on, has also traveled (and spoke in the press conference). He did not play over the weekend, but Larsson started and played an hour before being replaced by Elyounoussi. Left back Marcos López picked up a yellow card in the final minute of the first leg, and is thus suspended.

“The chance is there, but it will be difficult to win here. We will play 100% for the win. Among other things, it requires us to be efficient, because we cannot expect to get too many chances.”

“[In the first leg] we were a little deeper in the first half than we would have liked, but our play on the ball was the same, regardless of whether we play with four or five in the back line. There were several reasons why we chose to play with five in Parken, and one of them was to give Kevin Diks a free role, which brought greater flexibility. That can be a plus in these games. Our offensive structure can take many forms and that created some good situations in the first leg, which we just have to exploit better tomorrow.”

-Jacob Neestrup; source: FC København

Previously: Second half goals from Reecey and Enzo sent us on our way, but a late lapse in concentration has kept the tie very much open for this second leg. We’ve celebrated a birthday since the first leg, too — 120 years young!