Milan – Chelsea

The London club will also play Milan successfully in an away meeting

The situation in Group E of the Champions League group stage last weekend began to take on a more predictable character. Dinamo Zagreb, who sensationally topped the table after a sensational win over Chelsea in the first leg, collapsed to the bottom of the quartet. Their latest opponent, Salzburg, have moved into the lead with a one-point advantage over Chelsea and Milan, who will meet each other in the fourth round. The first match between the English and Italian clubs a week ago did not offer much intrigue. The London side seized the initiative from the outset and scored three unanswered goals, giving their opponents only one chance on target. Once again, Potter's side were favoured, but by a narrower margin than a week ago. Despite a decent staffing crisis caused by a high number of injured players, Milan have been delighting their fans with a run of success in the league after the defeat in London. Defeating top-seeded Juventus at home is not exactly off the charts, but a 2-0 win and a solid performance certainly lifted the spirits of the Red and Black players and supporters. This win moves Milan three points closer to first place in Serie A. Manyan, Ibrahimovic, Kjaer, Calabria, Salemakers and a number of other players will still be unavailable for the match against Chelsea. After a tough match against Juventus, the lack of ability to adjust the squad cannot "play" in favour of the home side. Chelsea picked up their third successive win under the new coach on Saturday, beating their second opponents 3-0. This time, Wolverhampton came under the changing team's "hand". The Blues' recent encounters make it clear that there has been a significant qualitative change in their attacking performance in recent weeks. In Milan, the visitors can comfortably play second-choice without forcing the issue. In contrast to their opponents, the London team now has the reserves to both rotate the squad and strengthen the game in its flow. It's a good bet that Milan cannot beat their second strongest opponent in a week.