Graham Potter has revealed his game plan ahead of Chelsea's clash with Dinamo Zagreb as the Blues plot their revenge. The west Londoners lost 1-0 to the Croatian side in September and former boss Thomas Tuchel was sacked the next day.
Chelsea head into the tie top of Group E on 10 points and with qualification to the round of 16 already secured. AC Milan are in second on seven points and RB Salzburg are third on six points; the two clubs lock horns tonight, with the Austrian side needing to beat the Rossoneri in order to qualify from the group.
Zagreb are bottom of Group E on four points; they need a win and for Milan to win in order to secure a place in the Europa League. Due to UEFA's head-to-head rules, Chelsea are guaranteed to top the group but the Croatian side still have everything to play for.
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And, Potter is looking to fight fire with fire after revealing his aggressive game plan in the pre-match press conference. As quoted by the club’s official website, he said: "We need to realise that we should be the protagonist in the game because we’re at home at Stamford Bridge.
"We want to try to be proactive and try to create and be on the front foot but at the same time, Dinamo have dangerous players. If they defend deep they can break and they can use the forwards well.
"They can spring from defence to attack in a dangerous manner. You only have to look at the goal they scored against us in the first game, it’s a quality counter-attacking goal. So we understand the quality of the opponent."
An aggressive game plan often comes with the risk of playing a high line. In many cases, this leads to being counter-attacked, which is just how Zagreb beat Chelsea in the reverse fixture.
To prevent being counter-attacked players are often encouraged to make tactical fouls to halt play. This can, obviously, lead to picking up yellow cards.
But, Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher are both one booking away from picking up three yellow cards in the group stage which accumulates to a one-match suspension. Therefore, there is a chance that the midfield duo do not feature for Chelsea against Zagreb.
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