Champions League Same Game Multi Tips: Chelsea and Liverpool face tough tasks

Chelsea v Sevilla
Tuesday October 20, 20:00
Live on Sky Sports Football

Luuk scores, Sevilla don't lose

If ever you wanted to see an example of a goalkeeper low on confidence and making bad mistakes as a result of that, then watch highlights of that Chelsea v Southampton match.

Kepa wasn't the only one who had a bad day in that Chelsea defence. Kurt Zouma was also pretty poor and one has to wonder whether, instead of buying three expensive attackers in the transfer window, they wouldn't have been better off buying a world-class centre-back. The jury is still out on whether Thiago Silva, who didn't play on Saturday, is still capable of playing at his level.

New keeper Edouard Mendy, who impressed so far, is currently injured. He can't come back soon enough.

We can't really trust this defence for the time being which means we can't really trust Chelsea. It's not like they're up against just anyone, either.

This is the Europa League champions we're talking about, no less. They took out the likes of Manchester United and Inter Milan in winning it yet again and, although they've since lost a couple of important players such as Tottenham's Sergio Reguilon, the Spaniards are very hard to beat.

They've started the season decently with two wins, a draw against Barcelona and then an uncharacteristic defeat at Granada but presumably, they were already thinking about this one. As Opta tell us, they've enjoyed playing English sides of late. The last three times they've played one - Liverpool, Wolves, Man Utd - they won. That may be a bit ambitious but siding with them in the double chance market looks a smart call at 8/11.

They'll probably have to score to get something out of the game because this one is highly unlikely to end 0-0, so who can get it for them? Luuk de Jong had a bit of a mare during his spell at Newcastle but he's not the first striker to find getting goals there a hard task and had a good season last time out, including scoring in the Europa League semi-final and then two in the final against Inter.

He has two for the season already and is particularly good in the air, hardly an area where Chelsea are looking strong. Let's hope he can keep up his good goalscoring form in Europe and get us a goal at 11/4. The double comes to 4.9579/20.

Ajax v Liverpool
Wednesday October 21, 20:00
Live on Sky Sports Football

Salah can get one, Ajax can get two

It's been a pretty eventful start to the season for Liverpool. Probably far too eventful if you're Jurgen Klopp.

More than the dropped points in the league, his big concern at the moment is the loss of two key figures who have done as much as anyone to contribute to the team's success over the last couple of years: Alisson and Virgil van Dijk. Their absences can really hurt Liverpool over the next few weeks, or even months.

That Liverpool them extremely vulnerable, possibly even to conceding more than once. In eight games this season they've already conceded two or more on four occasions. Two of the sides that managed to do so - Lincoln (EFL Cup) and Villa (who scored even) - are a few notches below Ajax.

Liverpool may just not know how to cope without van Dijk because over the last few seasons they haven't had to and Ajax have some classy players in their squad. They're also fresh from a 5-1 win against Heerenveen so a few of their attackers will be feeling good about themselves, especially former Southampton man Dusan Tadic, who has already scored three times in the league. He's good in the Champions League too, scoring six and assisting seven in this competition since the start of the 2018/19 season. It's 7/4 Ajax can score two or more and I'm taking it.

To complete the double it may be worth being a little less adventurous. Mo Salah is just 4/5 to score here but that's for a reason. Since making his debut in the CL just over two years ago, the Egyptian has netted 17 times, more than anyone at any English club in the period. He has started the season well. Seven appearances have yielded six goals, including three in his last two after scoring at the weekend against Everton, so this is a man in form. Then again, he always seems to be in form. The double comes to 4.86.