Jermaine Jenas: Underdogs Chelsea might just surprise us all against Barcelona

Jermaine Jenas: Underdogs Chelsea might just surprise us all against Barcelona

The Unibet ambassador talks Champions League, Pochettino’s fixture pile-up and Rochdale’s Wembley prospects

IT’S a big week for English teams in the Champions League and all eyes will be on Stamford Bridge on Tuesday for the visit of Barcelona to Chelsea.

I find Chelsea to be a weird team to predict. They seem to be one of those sides who will come up with their best right when the chips are down, or when they’re the underdogs, and that’s the situation they find themselves in here.

You could be forgiven for looking at this tie and expecting Barcelona to walk away with it, even though Chelsea (13/5) are at home first, which I’m not really sure actually helps. But, honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Chelsea get something out of this game.

On their day, at Stamford Bridge, they can cause a lot of problems for anyone. From a defensive point of view, if they can just pull it all together on the night to stop this attack-line that Barca boast, then I can see them at least keeping the tie open.

I don’t see them stopping Barca from scoring, which is a problem, because it could then turn into a two-game shoot-out which Barca would ultimately win. However, Chelsea have their own firepower in Eden Hazard and even Olivier Giroud who, in fairness to him, has slotted into the team with the exact purpose that Antonio Conte was looking for.

I expect Giroud to start on Tuesday night and he can be a big weapon for Chelsea. I really don’t think Pique and co will enjoy playing against him at all – that physical presence that he brings is exactly what Conte could and should use to Chelsea’s advantage.

Don’t be surprised to see the Blues go a little bit more direct on the night and make a real go of it.

Sevilla vs Man Utd

This is another tricky tie. Earlier in the season, when watching them, I would have said that this is not the Sevilla side that we have come to know – that sturdy, resilient side that won the Europa League three seasons running (2014, 2015, 2016).

Even though they caused Liverpool plenty of problems in the group stages, they never really looked as good as they have been over the previous five years or so, but in recent weeks they’ve really picked themselves up.

They’ve got themselves a good few wins under their belt in the league and are showing themselves to be a tough opponent once again.

Then again, this is where Jose Mourinho comes into his own. He’s had his critics of late, but now that we’re getting into the business end of the season, I expect to see him be a little bit more pragmatic, particularly in Europe where he’s had so much success.

He has a problem in Paul Pogba, and I think maybe now he understands that he can’t get the best out of him in a two in midfield, which is all anyone has been saying. If Pogba is back from his illness, this game could be one that sticks out as a turning point.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see Mourinho go with Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera with Pogba, or Michael Carrick and Matic with Pogba – or he could even throw Scott McTominay in a three-man midfield, who knows. I think eventually we’re going to have to see that set-up, and Sevilla could potentially be the best opportunity to implement it.

‘City can go on to lift it’

When holders Real and Paris Saint-Germain were drawn together, I thought the winner of that tie would go on to win the Champions League. Now though, I’m not so convinced.

I was quite surprised by the French side in the Bernabeu last week. I thought they were good, but they showed naivety and I didn’t expect that, I expected them to be a bit more cut-throat, ruthless and stronger in midfield.

For some reason, I still think they’ll go through in that tie, and if they do I think that will lift them so much that they could indeed go on and lift the trophy. But it’s so hard to call, it hasn’t been this tight in years.

With one foot already in the quarters, you can’t write off Manchester City. In fact, if pressed to pick a winner right now, I’d have to go with City, but only just!

Tottenham conundrum

Whatever happens in the second leg against Juve, Tottenham have been thrilling in the Champions League this season, but this tie is nowhere near done.  

A lot of people are getting a bit hyped up after Spurs put in an unbelievable performance. I was there, and I was very impressed with their performance on the night, but I’ve been involved in enough of these sorts of ties to realise that Juve have the ability to turn up in London as a different team and they can cause Spurs some serious problems.

With that in mind, this FA Cup replay with Rochdale is a bit of a problem for Tottenham. It’s one of those awkward situations, whereby Mauricio Pochettino probably felt the need to rest key players.

Some might say if he really needed to rest them he would have left them at home, but I think they had enough of a warning against Newport to warrant bringing their big stars, just in case, and so it proved.

Pochettino didn’t say as much afterwards, but it’s a bit of a headache for him now, particularly as Tottenham are doing so well in the Champions League and are in a real battle for a top four spot in the Premier League.

I still expect Spurs to field a slightly weakened side in the replay and they should have enough to get through, but it’s about how they do it. If they struggle again, then they’ll be exerting more energy than they need to.

Don’t get me wrong, playing Spurs at Wembley is going to be a completely different proposition for Rochdale – the pitch will be bigger, slicker, quicker and that extra space will be harder for them to deal with – and I noticed towards the end of the game on Sunday that Rochdale had a few players going down with cramp.

What Pochettino might prefer to do is to mimic what Chelsea did against Hull last Friday, which was to field a strong team and put the game to bed within 20 minutes. That allows you to take the foot off the pedal and cruise to the final whistle. But then Spurs tend to make life very hard for themselves in the FA Cup.

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