Chelsea rested, motivated and gaining momentum: Man City and Inter should watch out

Chelsea have made it though to the Club World Cup quarter finals after quite the rollercoaster.

The group stage started pretty comfortably with a win over LAFC in the opening game, but then took a sudden and serious wrong turn with the loss to Flamengo in the second game.

That ended up proving an unlikely positive, however. Chelsea rallied to beat ES Tunis in their final game, while Bayern Munich were shocked by Benfica and ended up finishing second in their group. That meant the Blues faced the Portuguese giants last night, and after a crazy game that featured a 90 minute rain delay, a 95th minute equaliser, a red card and then 3 goals in extra time, Enzo Maresca’s team have made it to the quarters.

The rest of the second round games have yet to be played, so we will have to see how things shake out, but if you’ re ready to drop your 10 free no deposit casino uk bets on anyone, the Blues look a safe option. They will face Palmeiras in the quarters, and then likely Man City or Inter Milan in the semis. Two good teams, but by no means unbeatable.

Win that and we’re in the final, and anything could happen at that point. Another benefit the Blues have is the rest factor. Playing yesterday was tough, especially going to extra time, but Maresca now has 6 days to rest and prepare his team before the quarters. Win that and we’ll have an extra day over our opposition in the semis too.

It’s important to not just look past Palmeiras, however. We’ve lost to Brazilian opposition once in this tournament already, and we’ve all seen how motivated the South American teams are in general when it comes to winning this title.

Still, last night’s celebrations from the Chelsea staff and players show they’re pretty up for it too, especially now we’ve reached this point in the tournament. The prize money and prestige earned in each round are ramping up, and we expect a full strength, fully motivated Blues team to tear into our South American opposition in Philadelphia next Saturday night.

It will involve staying up until 4am, so prepare your alarm clocks, but it should be a really enjoyable game and we can’t wait for it. Nicolas Jackson will return from suspension with a lot to prove, and another final just 180 minutes away if we get everything right.