Chelsea v Legia Warsaw: 4/1 cards and corners double appeals | OneFootball

UEFA Europa Conference League

Maresca has trusted his teens in this competition

With the tie already won, Ste Tudor backs Chelsea's kids to come good against limited opposition this Thursday.

Chelsea v Legia WarsawApril 16th 2026, 20:00Live on TNT Sports

Chelsea set fair after solid first leg win

Last week's comfortable victory in Poland affords Enzo Maresca the opportunity to give youth its chance on Thursday evening as Chelsea look to complete formalities and secure their Conference League semi-final place.

Frankly, having suffered a 3-0 defeat at home, it would take a miracle for Legia to introduce any jeopardy into this away contest, never mind pull off anything ridiculous.

So with Fulham awaiting on Sunday and a top five battle hotting up in the Premier League it's reasonable to expect to see some unfamiliar names starting at the Bridge, in a line-up sprinkled with experience to help get them through.

Indeed, the most fascinating aspect to this encounter is trying to figure out who plays, and who from Chelsea's many peripheral stars sit frustrated on the bench.

The kids are alright

To Maresca's credit he has trusted his academy players throughout this competition and did so again in the first leg.

For the fifth Conference League game running Tyrique George started, this time on his preferred left flank, and the teenage winger impressed, scoring his first senior goal for the Blues. He is 21/10 to double his Chelsea tally here.

At right-back meanwhile, Josh Acheampong once again showed that he has all the credentials to be a future England international. The 18-year-old was solid defensively while also making two key passes and completing both of his dribble attempts when venturing forward.

As for this Thursday, one or both of Sam Rak-Sakyi and Mathis Amougou could feature in the middle while Shumaira Mheuka may be handed a second Conference League start.

The 17-year-old failed to make much of an impression vs Copenhagen and was subbed at half-time but boasts four goal involvements in his last four Under 21 outings and deserves another opportunity.

Christophe Nkunku's loss of form and confidence could well facilitate this.

Legia are limited

With both their main goal-threats - Marc Gual and Bartosz Kapustka - unavailable last week, Legia were toothless throughout, sometimes clever in build-up but never less than disappointing in the final third.

That they are the second highest scorers in their domestic league says more about the current standard of the Ekstraklasa than it talks up Legia.

At the back - as predicted in our first-leg preview - Goncalo Feio went with a five-man rearguard, a formation that is largely unfamiliar to the Polish side and in the second half in particular last week that showed.

As the game wore on it felt like Chelsea could score at will.

Subsequently the superior hosts are strongly fancied to win out in the capital but it's acknowledging Legia's poor decision-making and execution up front that offers the best value.

Dewsbury-Hall has it

He may not be overly appreciated by the Stamford Bridge faithful but Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has repeatedly come to the fore in the Conference League this term, putting in a string of excellent showings, often with a different partner alongside him in midfield to the fixture before.

A goal-scorer three times over in the tournament his consistently high shot-counts add an extra layer to Chelsea's attacking threat and come in especially handy against a low block. Against Legia last week, he took on five attempts, two of which troubled Tobiasz in nets. He also posted two SOT away to Heidenheim back in November.

With Cole Palmer likely to be rested a number 10 role could be allocated to the 26-year-old here and that only increases his appeal in the shot market.

Cards and corners

There were several shouts in the first-leg preview that duly played out, not least that Chelsea would pepper their hosts with more than eight shots on target - they finished the game on ten - and that the match would be goalless at half-time.

Annoyingly though much was made of Chelsea's decent disciplinary record in this competition, it contrasting so sharply with their league misdemeanours, but the bet that was selected was for Legia to pick up the most cards. In the event not a single card was brandished all evening.

Which only makes us suspect that some will inevitably follow here, a phenomenon that often occurs in second legs. Petty grudges fester for a week. A comment made is brooded over. Defenders are taken on and beaten for a second game running and their patience wears thin.

With Legia's exit likely to be confirmed by the hour-mark we could see a flurry of cards late-on. Even a smattering will suffice.

It's worth noting too that Chelsea have won six first-half corners in consecutive games now, doing so against Legia and then Ipswich at the weekend.

Now read Ste's Premier League Team Stat Sheet ahead of this weekend's action

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