Dynamo Kiev vs. Chelsea, Europa League: Preview, team news, how to watch

It’s become a bit of an English renaissance in Europe this season, with all four of last year’s top four still alive in the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time in a decade, while both Chelsea and Arsenal are still going strong in the Europa League as well. Arsenal do have to overcome a 3-1 away first leg defeat at Rennes, but that’s certainly doable.

Chelsea meanwhile have the cushion of a 3-0 first leg win at Stamford Bridge to carry into today’s second leg in Kiev, though that doesn’t mean we’ll get to relax.

Date / Time: Thursday, March 14, 2019, 17:55 GMT; 1:55pm EDT; 11:25pm IST

Venue: NSC Olimpiyskiy, Kiev, Ukraine

Referee: Tobias Stieler — FIFA-certified since 2014, the 37-year-old German official has been a regular in continental competitions for the last three years. This will be his first Chelsea game.

Forecast: Cold with a slight chance of rain late on.

On TV: BT Sport 3 (UK); UniMás (USA); SONY TEN 2 (India); elsewhere

Streaming online: BT Sport Live (UK); B/R Live, Univision NOW (USA); SONY LIV (India)

Dynamo Kiev team news: Head coach Aleksandr Khatskevich is aiming for a “miracle” and will look to start quickly and aggressively to try to grab the first goal of the match and put some doubt into Chelsea hearts and minds. Dynamo followed up their 3-0 loss to Chelsea last week with a 4-0 hammering of bottom-of-the-table Arsenal Kiev over the weekend, which will have restored some measure of belief.

The home side will be without suspended midfielder Vitaliy Buyalskyi and still injured winger Benjamin Verbič. New signing Fran Sol, who had lit up the Eredivisie’s goalscoring charts before moving to Ukraine in January, will also miss the game after undergoing shoulder surgery yesterday.

Chelsea team news: The Blues’ three-match winning streak ground to a halt on Sunday and we needed a last-gasp equalizer from Eden Hazard just to split the points with Wolverhampton Wanderers. Clearly, the team’s turnaround is quite complete yet, and probably won’t be for a while, but neither the top four nor the Europa League crown are gone yet, so focus and belief must be maintained.

Chelsea do not have any significant injury issues, though Gonzalo Higuaín did stay home due to illness. The team’s leading European goalscorer, Olivier Giroud (6) was probably going to start either way. Ross Barkley is one booking away from a one-match suspension.

Previously: 3-0 last week, but it could’ve been so much more!