UEFA Europa League 2018/19: Matchday 1
- PAOK VS Chelsea
- Venue: Toumba Stadium, Salonika
- Date: Thursday 20 September
- Kick-off time: 5:55pm BST
Chelsea’s European odyssey begins in Greece as Maurizio Sarri’s Blues travel to face PAOK in Thursday night’s Group L opener.
A disappointing 2017-18 Premier League campaign cost Antonio Conte his job and leaves Chelsea outside of the Champions League for the first time since 2013.
It is only six months ago that PAOK president Ivan Savvidis stormed onto the pitch with a holstered gun in his belt during a fiery encounter between his side and AEK Athens.
The domestic league was suspended as a result, while the president himself was banned, but PAOK eventually finished second before losing to Benfica in the Champions League playoffs. While the incident involving Savvidis was extreme, the 29,000-capacity Toumba Stadium always has one of the hottest atmospheres in Europe.
Possible Line-Ups
PAOK
Paschalakis; Matos, Crespo, Varela, Freitas; Silveira Junior, Canas; Lima, El Kaddouri, Biseswar; Prijovic
Chelsea
Caballero; Moses, Christensen, Cahill, Palmieri; Ampadu, Fabregas, Barkley; Zappacosta, Pedro, Morata
Betting & Match Odds
PAOK are priced at odds of winning 4.40 according to VBet, while a draw is available at 3.76. A win for Chelsea is priced at 1.81.
Click here to see all of VBet’s offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more.
