Chelsea conclude the Europa Conference League with a visit from Shamrock Rovers on Thursday afternoon.
The Blues have already qualified for the last 16 of the competition after last week 3-1 win over Astana, Kazakhstanbut they will be keen to maintain their perfect record in the league stage and finish top on Thursday.
Chelsea are the only team to have won all five of their matches in the league stage and achieved it in regular play, despite making sweeping changes to their starting line-up in each outing. Enzo Maresca will field a much-changed line-up on Thursday in an eighth straight win in all competitions.
Irish side Shamrock Rovers remain unbeaten in the league stage but can only guarantee direct passage to the last 16 with a win on Thursday. However, they are confident of a place in the playoffs after three wins and two draws.
Behold 90 minutes guide for Chelseathe last European match of the year.
Chelsea vs Shamrock Rovers H2H Record
This is the first matchday between Chelsea and Shamrock Rovers.
Current form (all competitions)
|
Chelsea |
Shamrock Rovers |
|---|---|
|
Chelsea 2-1 Brentford – 15/12/25 |
Shamrock Rovers 3-0 Borac Banja Luka – 12/12/24 |
|
Astana 1-3 Chelsea – 12/12/24 |
Rapid Vienna 1-1 Shamrock Rovers – ​​28/11/24 |
|
Tottenham 3-4 Chelsea – 24/12/08 |
Shamrock Rovers 2-1 TNS – 07/11/24 |
|
Southampton 1-5 Chelsea – 24/12/24 |
Shamrock Rovers 2-1 Waterford – 01/11/24 |
|
Chelsea 3-0 Aston Villa – 01/12/24 |
Dundalk 0-1 Shamrock Rovers – 27/10/24 |
|
Country |
TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports Ultimate, Discovery+, Discovery+ App |
|
United States |
Paramount+, ViX |
|
Canada |
DAZN Canada |
Mykhailo Mudryk will miss Thursday’s clash next recently failed a drug test. The Ukrainian, who was a regular at Conference Leaguehas been temporarily banned from football and may face a lengthy ban.
Wesley Fofana and Rhys James are still out with hamstring injuries, although the former is not included in Chelsea’s squad for the league stage. The same goes for Cole Palmer, who will be rested in midweek.
Benoit Badiashile missed the weekend win through injury and Maresca is yet to say how long he will be sidelined, while Marc Cucurella is available on Thursday despite he received a red card against Brentford. He will miss Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Everton next weekend.
Many of those who started Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Brentford on Sunday will not feature against Shamrock Rovers. Maresca is likely to change much of his starting line-up and again give opportunities to fringe and young players.
Chelsea predicted line-up against Shamrock Rovers (4-2-3-1): Jorgensen; Acheampong, Adarabioyo, Disasi, Cucurella; Casadei, Dewsbury-Hall; George, Nkunku, Felix. Man.
Shamrock Rovers finished their league season at the start of November and suffered a final day upset as Shelbourne pipped them to the title. However, they have not let any rust affect their European performances, with two wins and a draw in the Conference League since then.
Chelsea will be a completely different proposition to Stephen Bradley’s side and will be huge underdogs on Thursday. However, they have a few players who could cause the Blues problems, including star 21-year-old striker Jonny Kenny who has scored five goals in as many games in the league stage.
Shamrock Rovers predicted line-up against Chelsea (3-5-2): Pohls? Cleary, Lopes, Grace; Honohan, O’Neil, Poom, Watts, Burns? Farrugia, Kenny.
Chelsea have eased into the league stage and will have no problem maintaining their perfect record on Thursday evening. Rovers have proved a tough team for some of the competition’s lesser entrants, but a trip to Stamford Bridge will prove too daunting.
The Blues will make sweeping changes to their starting line-up, but some first-team players will likely earn run outs to keep them fresh. That could spell trouble for Rovers, who have only played a handful of games in the last two months.
