Even by Chelsea’s standards, the summer transfer window was chaotic and probably had some influence on the Blues looking far from convincing during their opening fixtures.
Nevertheless, Saturday’s controversial 2-1 victory over West Ham United has left the Blues one point above Liverpool and just four points behind a Manchester City side which are supposed to conquer all this campaign.
Given the substandard level of their defending, Thomas Tuchel will take 10 points from six matches, but the German will know that now is the time for his players to start to deliver the level of performances which are expected and demanded of them.
Chelsea have now conceded nine goals – it would have been 10 had VAR not made what felt like a monumental error in the West Ham fixture – in five games, and Tuchel needs to decide whether he is going to operate with a back three or four over the coming weeks.
In attack, Chelsea have generally failed to show a clinical touch, with Tuchel left to hope that Kai Havertz’s first goal of the season is the end of his ineffective showings in the final third.
Dinamo Zagreb are perceived to be the minnows of the group, potentially because they have needed to advance past Shkupi, Ludogorets Razgrad and Bodo/Glimt to reach the group stages for the first time since 2019-20.
However, this is a club that reached the 2020-21 Europa League quarter-finals and posted wins over West Ham United and Sevilla in last year’s competition.
As many as 22 points and 27 goals have also come from their opening eight league fixtures, and Ante Cacic and his side will relish the chance to pull off the upset against Premier League opposition.
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Nevertheless, Chelsea will be encouraged by their hosts failing to keep a clean sheet in their last 10 fixtures, even if you have to go all the way to December for their last defeat at Stadion Maksimir.
These two clubs will be meeting for the first time in their history with Chelsea having never faced Croatian opposition in a competitive match.
Tuchel may decide that now is the right time to bring Edouard Mendy out of the spotlight, handing a first start of the season to second-choice goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Jorginho will come back into the centre of midfield, while Tuchel is unlikely to deny Mateo Kovacic an opportunity to start against his former club.
