Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund is set to compound Chelsea’s woes as the teams meet in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie at Signal Iduna Park.
Chelsea laboured to a 1-1 draw against West Ham at the Weekend. There has been little room for optimism for Chelsea in the Premier League this season. Tenth in the table and with just two wins in their previous ten matches.
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Dortmund on the other hand, currently sit third in the Bundesliga, just three points behind league leaders Bayern Munich in the standings.
Borussia Dortmund extended their winning run since the World Cup break to six matches across all competitions after securing a 2-0 Bundesliga victory away against Werder Bremen on Saturday.
However, in-form Borussia are without a win in 10 games against English opponents, eight of them losses. They last beat a Premier League side in Europe in 2016 – Tottenham, at this stage – and three of their past four home defeats in this competition came against teams from England.
BVB will welcome a return to Westfalenstadion which has become somewhat of a fortress for the German outfit in the Champions League, as they have lost only four of their last 21 home matches in the competition; three of those defeats have been against English opposition, though.
Despite winning only two of their six matches in the Champions League group stage earlier this season, Dortmund managed to finish above both Sevilla and Copenhagen to advance to the last 16, and they will now endeavour to beat an out-of-sorts Chelsea side over two legs as they bid to reach the quarter-finals for just the third time in the last nine seasons.
Chelsea’s hopes of finishing in the top four continue to fade as they currently sit ninth in the Premier League table and 10 points behind fourth-placed Newcastle United. The West Londoners may be required to go all the way in the Champions League if they wish to compete in Europe’s elite club competition again next season.
BVB progressed to the knockout rounds after finishing second in Group G behind Manchester City, while the Blues navigated their way past AC Milan, Red Bull Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb to secure top spot in Group E. It will be the first-ever meeting between the teams.
