November 02, (THEWILL) – There is another fantastic round of UEFA Champions League football to look forward to before the players head out on another international break, the final one for the year.
On matchday four, there are a few matchups to keep an eye on, including Manchester United’s trip to Italy to face Atalanta, Juventus hosting Zenit and Barcelona hoping for better results against Benfica.
Some teams, like Juventus, can qualify for the knockout stages and the final 16 at this stage of the game, but there is also the risk of elimination for those on the wrong end of their groups.
Here is a preview of some of the football action to look forward to on Tuesday across Europe’s elite competition starting with Chelsea’s early kickoff at Malmo.
Malmo Versus Chelsea – 6:45 pm
Chelsea trounced Malmo 4-0 in October and will be looking for a repeat performance today, albeit without Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner, Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, and N’Golo Kante, who are all sidelined.
Fortunately for Thomas Tuchel, the Blues’ outstanding squad depth should allow them to cruise to another victory without those key players in the reverse fixture at the Eleda Stadion in Sweden.
Dynamo Kyiv Versus Barcelona – 9 pm
Barcelona will play Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League and can not afford another loss after losing two games already this season.
The Catalan giants are not very excellent right now, but with Frenkie de Jong, Ousmane Dembele, Ansu Fati, and Ronald Araujo all returning, they should be able to squeak a win in Kyiv against the Ukrainian side even if the top side of the Ukrainian Premier League will not make it easy for them.
Bayern Munich Versus Benfica – 9 pm
Bayern Munich lead Group E and will be confident of extending their lead against a Benfica side that they defeated 4-0 only a few weeks ago.
Bayern have shown that they are mortal this season, with their recent 5-0 loss to Borussia Monchengladbach in the DFB Pokal competition demonstrating that they can be defeated. However, Julian Nagelsmann’s side appear to be far too powerful for the Portuguese side and could easily win again.
Villarreal Versus Young Boys – 9 pm
Villarreal will be looking forward to seeing Young Boys again, as the Swiss side is the only team they have defeated in their past five games across all competitions.
Unai Emery’s side is stuck in a rut and quietly slipping down the La Liga table, but they will still expect a positive outcome against Young Boys. These two at the bottom of Group F still have it all to play for and Young Boys have shown they can beat top sides.
Atalanta Versus Manchester United – 9 pm
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be hoping for a much better performance than the one his team put up against Atalanta last month. They were down two goals early in the game and needed a late flurry to salvage the tie.
That performance added to the pressure on Solskjaer, whose job is still on the line despite a strong performance against Tottenham in last weekend’s EPL match. The Norwegian manager will be expecting another one here, and he might just get it if Atalanta slip up.
Juventus Versus Zenit – 9 pm
Juventus, who are currently in first place in Group H, can clinch a place in the knockout stages with a win on Tuesday at the Allianz Stadium in Turin.
On paper, Juventus are clearly superior to Zenit, but the Old Lady has been in poor form in recent weeks and may easily be held by a team that they required a late winner from Dejan Kulusevski to beat only a few weeks ago. Zenit can ride their luck to victory and put extra pressure on Massimiliano Allegri.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
