Salzburg vs Chelsea prediction: EUROPE: Champions League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2022-10-24 16:45.
A run of three draws from the opening four rounds in UEFA Champions League (UCL) Group E has kept Salzburg in contention to qualify as group winners, but they must avoid defeat against Chelsea in order to take that fight to the final day. It’s going well domestically too, with a 1-1 draw against Sturm Graz last weekend seeing Salzburg maintain their slender lead at the top of the Austrian Bundesliga.
Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz sadly passed away over the weekend. He famously stated that "this is a new club with no history" when changing SV Austria Salzburg’s colours and crest back in 2005, but history has since been made though, with 13 Austrian titles and nine Austrian cups since the takeover. Salzburg have also featured in knockout phase European football in each of the last five seasons, and a win here will secure that again.
After taking the initiative in UCL Group E with back-to-back wins over AC Milan, Graham Potter’s Chelsea can qualify for the round of 16 with a game to spare, but only if they can win here. Such a result may be the expectation, not least because 2020/21 winners have qualified from 17 of their last 18 UCL group stage appearances.
Chelsea were left frustrated after a 94th-minute Manchester United goal consigned them to back-to-back draws over the weekend, yet it did extend Potter’s 100% unbeaten record since taking the job (W5, D3). Being unbeaten in 28 of the last 34 European games may buoy the Chelsea faithful (W21, D7), yet all of their historical H2Hs with Austrian opponents ended level (D3) after drawing at home with Salzburg in the reverse matchup!
Key battle: Salzburg defender Bernardo couldn’t help to keep a clean sheet in three matches against Chelsea during a three-year stint at Brighton, but one of his seven all-time league goal contributions came against the Blues! Trying to break his resolve will be Chelsea’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, with two of his three goals since joining Chelsea contributing to wins without reply in the UCL.
Hot stat: Salzburg are unbeaten in seven straight UCL home games (W4, D3) and the 1-1 draw against Chelsea ended a five-game losing run against English sides.