Chelsea v RB Salzburg: Sterling to shine in Potter's debut

Chelsea v RB Salzburg
Wednesday 14 September, 20:00 kick-off
Live on BT Sport 3

Can Potter work his magic at Chelsea?

Graham Potter is now the lead actor in the latest Chelsea soap opera, and he'll hope to a positive first episode as he gets thrown straight into a crucial Champions League clash at Stamford Bridge.

Thomas Tuchel's final act was that stinging defeat at Dinamo Zagreb, but Chelsea have never lost their opening two Champions League group games and luckily enough their group should be comfortable enough.

Red Bull Salzburg arrive for their first meeting with Chelsea having never beaten an English side and with the Blues losing just one of the last 20 home group stage games.

The weekend postponement has given Potter a bit of extra time to adjust to the situation and he'll hope for that new manager bounce to get off to a perfect start.

Young Salzburg side eyeing an upset

RB Salzburg had the youngest starting line-up in the competition in the first set of fixtures with just one player over 24, and they played well to hold AC Milan to a 1-1 draw in Austria.

Salzburg made the last-16 last season where they held Bayern 1-1 in the home leg, but they lost 7-1 in Munich in what was their third straight away defeat in the competition so they're not the best travellers.

Domestically they're in great form, winning nine of 11 and keeping eight clean sheets so confidence will not be an issue and they'll be bright and lively as they look to expose any remaining flaws in the Chelsea armoury.

Blues heavily backed to clip Red Bull's wings

There's no real surprise in Chelsea's massive odds-on price for victory with Salzburg losing their last five against English opposition, and with the Austrians failing to score in four of those then a Chelsea win to nil could prove popular at 2.47/5.

It's a tough one though as we don't really know how Potter will line-up and how much of his own style he's tried to already impart on his new squad of players.

Much will depend on Salzburg as if they come out all guns blazing and try to catch Chelsea by surprise then we could well see a few goals at both ends.

The bookies certainly fancy a few with over 2.5 goals priced at just 1.51/2 and only worth including in your Bet Builder options.

With these stats and a possible fast start for the new manager, then a Bet Builder backing Chelsea to win at HT/FT while winning to nil would not be the worst way to go.

Sterling can shine for new boss

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang only managed one game with his former Dortmund boss Tuchel before their partnership was broken up, so who knows what frame of mind he's in now.

Potter should give the former Arsenal man his home debut here and he's favourite in the anytime goalscorer market.

I think we get a lot more value in backing Raheem Sterling though at 2.255/4 to score anytime with his wealth of Champions League experience and love of scoring at home.

17 of his 24 Champions League goals have come on home turf and having Aubameyang playing down the middle will only help free up some space on his favoured wide left slot.

Potter could go a number of ways in the supporting cast, but Aubameyang and Sterling should be his foundation stones going forward.

For Salzburg, Noah Okafor has scored four goals in five Champions League games including against Milan last week - he's a big price at 5.04/1 to find the net here and is the play if you fancy the visitors to score.

But this really should be a home win for Potter to ease his way into his new job.