Chelsea will hope to climb closer to the top of the Champions League table when they travel to face an inconsistent Atalanta side on Tuesday.
The Blues are far from the most consistent outfit themselves. After a dazzling 3–0 win over Barcelona and an impressive draw with Arsenal, a brutal 3–1 defeat to Leeds United and a stalemate draw with Bournemouth have brought Enzo Maresca’s side crashing back to earth.
In Europe, things are going reasonably well. Chelsea enter the matchweek sitting seventh in the standings, good enough for automatic qualification but level on points with Tuesday’s opponents in 10th.
Atalanta have three wins from their first five Champions League games, but that does not tell the full story about Raffaele Palladino’s side, who have just three Serie A wins in 14 games and have failed to win nine of their last 10 outings domestically.
Kamaldeen Sulemana and Mitchel Bakker are two continued absences for Atalanta, with Palladino blessed with plenty of options to rotate his squad.
The Atalanta squad includes two former Chelsea players. Full back Davide Zappacosta will hope for another start on the left but midfielder Mario Pašalić, who spent six years at Chelsea without making a single appearance, has struggled for minutes since Palladino’s arrival in November.
Striker Liam Delap is the newest arrival in Chelsea’s treatment room after suffering a nasty shoulder injury which is expected to keep him out for the best part of two months. He joins Roméo Lavia, Levi Colwill and Dário Essugo on the sidelines, while Mykhailo Mudryk remains unavailable.
The positive news for Chelsea is the expected return of midfielder Moisés Caicedo. The Ecuadorian has served two of the three games of his suspension following his red card against Arsenal, but the ban only applies to domestic matches and so Caicedo will be free to make his return here.
Cole Palmer was not spotted in open training on Monday but is not thought to have suffered an injury setback and may be rested as part of his gradual return.
