With the Euro Soccer leagues moving on in 2016 we now are looking at the UEFA Champions League-Round of 16-1st Leg and on Tuesday the 16th of February 2016 we find Paris Saint-German (PSG) playing Chelsea with the match being played at the Parc des Princes in Paris with the kick-off scheduled for 2:45 PM ET.
For the fans that Bet on Soccer the PSG are favored at -145 with the goal line at -1/2 and the Total at Ov 2 -140 while Chelsea is at +470 and +1/2 +125 on the Goal Line and the Draw is at +270.
Finally the biggest soccer tournament in Europe returns with the kick-off of the round of 16 matches, that begins this Tuesday. Chelsea the reigning EPL UEFA Champions League start the tournament on Tuesday as they seek their 2nd Title in this Tournament and they face the French Champions PSG (Paris Saint-German) at the Parc des Princes that has a seating capacity of 48,715. Yes the Euro fans are interested to see the outcome of these 1st leg matches of this UEFA Champions League games.
The fans of PSG (1st in France Ligue 1) are presently concerned about their team’s chances since their star defender S. Aurier has been suspended indefinitely. Aurier a 23 year old star has played on a regular basis with a defensive backline that has only allowed 12 goals in this French Ligue 1 this season 2015-16.
The Latest news from N, Al-Khelaifi the President of PSG is that it has been decided to cut Aurier from the team and that will definitely give Chelsea and edge in this match, as Chelsea is 3rd highest in the Champions League scoring 13 goals this season in the group stages.
All this commotion likely will not affect the PSG giants as they have played some outstanding football this 2015-16 seasons. Presently they are up in the Ligue 1 by 24 points, and in their ultimate 34 matches in the league they have not had a loss. To date they have an incredible 22 victories and 4 draws in their Ligue, and this season to date lost 1 game to Real Madrid in the group stage of the Champions League.
If the PSG team cares to keep winning, they will have to shut down Chelsea’s D. Costa, who with his latest goal at Newcastle he now has scored in his ultimate 10 games some 8 goals under G. Hiddink their Interim Manager.
The fans of the “Blues” of Chelsea your team comes into this round of 16 game with a lot of momentum after their routing 5-1 Newcastle this past Saturday at Stamford Bridge. Their players who scored were Costa, Pedro, Traore and Willian as the team moved to 12th place in the EPL with their 33 points to date.
The team’s decision to bring in G. Hiddink to replace manager J. Mourinho was a great change for Chelsea, as since his arrival the Blues in their ultimate 12 games have not lost a game under the lead of this Dutch manager. But the future looks to be more difficult for the reigning EPL Champions as they take on the French powerhouse in this 1st leg.
Chelsea is fully aware of the problems they could face against this French team as PSG was the team that last season in this same stage of this tournament sent the Blues packing. In that game T. Silva scored a late goal with a header that entered PSG into the Quarterfinals last season.
The challenge of facing the strong PSG offense will be twice as difficult as the Blues have lingering injuries to their backline, as Captain Terry is doubtful with a injury to his hamstring, and they already were missing K. Zouma who has been absent with a ligament injury that has lingered.
With those two being out, then the Blues will look to G. Cahill and B. Ivanovic to take up the slack on their defensive backline. That still gives the team a lot of experience as those 2 in Ivanovic and Cahill were in the backline when the Blues eliminated PSG some 2 years ago in the Quarterfinals.
The sportsbook prediction for this UEFA 1st Leg in the Round of 16 games is that the fans will see PSG and Chelsea end this match with an exciting 1-1 draw as they cancel each other.