PSG vs Chelsea preview: Five things you should know about Ligue 1 leaders ahead of Champions League clash
The two sides meet eachother in the competition's knockout stages for the third consecutive season on Tuesday night
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Your support makes all the difference.After meeting them during the Champions League knockout stages for each of the past two seasons, Chelsea should know their fair share about Paris Saint-Germain.
The west London outfit edged past their Ligue 1 counterparts on away goals in 2014, only to be dumped out in the same fashion after David Luiz and Thiago Silva scored at Stamford Bridge last year.
A season, however, is a long time in football and for those Chelsea supporters who haven’t been keeping tabs on their forthcoming opponents since last term, here are five things you ought to know.
Laurent Blanc’s side have improved on last year
And how. We might be enjoying one of the most competitive top flight seasons in recent memory on this side of la Manche but it’s an entirely different story in France.
PSG’s lead at the top of Ligue 1 is virtually unassailable, with 24 points separating them from second-placed Monaco. They are unbeaten in the league this term and have dropped points on just four occasions.
They also do this sort of thing, regularly…
… but they drew with Lille at the weekend
Fortunately for Chelsea, one of PSG’s four league draws came on Saturday at home to Lille.
Without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, one of several rested first-team players, Les Rouge-et-Bleu looked blunt in attack and the game ended goalless.
Edinson Cavani, who could feature against the defending Premier League champions on Tuesday, missed two good chances to break the deadlock and many blamed his wastefulness in front of goal for Blanc’s side missing out on their 18th-straight win.
The likes of Ibrahimovic, Marco Verratti and Lucas Moura will be restored to the starting line-up on Tuesday, no doubt, but could the stalemate conveniently dent PSG’s confidence?
They are without their first-choice right-back
As you may have read, Serge Aurier has caused something of a disciplinary storm in the last few days.
The Ivory Coast international has been suspended following his impertinence on Periscope, which leaves Blanc with a decision to make at right-back.
Gregory van der Wiel, who you may remember from the Netherlands’ run to the World Cup final in 2010, could come in or natural centre-half Marquinhos could move across the backline.
Whoever Blanc fields, PSG will miss the attacking dimension the marauding Aurier offers on the right flank.
Angel di Maria’s not as bad as you remember
31 appearances, 14 goals, 12 assists. Angel di Maria seems to be enjoying Ligue 1 more than the Premier League and that’s borne out in the numbers.
It’s hard to not to associate the former Manchester United winger with the gloomy sulking figure that spent much of his time at Old Trafford looking utterly exasperated by Louis van Gaal’s restrictive style of play, but he’s getting back to his best under Blanc.
Perhaps, considering how United’s stylistic problems have stretched into this term, it’s not hard to see why the Argentinian winger struggled last season.
Don’t expect to see Ezequiel Lavezzi
He may have been linked with a move to Stamford Bridge recently but it looks like Ezequiel Lavezzi will soon become the latest globally-recognised player to move to the Chinese Super League.
The 30-year-old has agreed a lucrative two-year deal with Hebei Fortune, which will see him earn his own ‘fortune’ of around £23.5million.
The deal should be completed in the coming days, which makes any appearance at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday unlikely.
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