Liam Delap got his Chelsea career off to a strong start with a sharp turn and finish against Esperance Tunis, marking his first goal for the club. With Nicolas Jackson serving a two game suspension following his red card against Flamengo, Delap has another opportunity to lead the line and stake his claim as Chelsea’s first choice striker.  

Delap will be eager to build on his goal against Esperance, particularly with Jackson’s suspension extending into the new season. This gives him a clear chance to cement his place in the side early on.  

During the 2024/25 campaign with Ipswich, Delap averaged 1.10 shots on target per game across his 37 Premier League appearances, scoring 12 goals. With the creative support of Pedro Neto, Enzo Fernández and Reece James at Chelsea, he will be confident of increasing those numbers as he looks to secure a regular starting role.

Colwill has committed one foul across his two appearances at the Club World Cup so far and is set for a battle with Pavlidis here. Colwill was quite aggressive from centre back during the 24/25 Premier League season, committing 45 fouls across his 35 appearances (1.29 per 90).

This record suggests that Colwill will continue to engage regularly with the opposition striker and Pavlidis is likely to be quite a handful for the 22 year old defender. Pavlidis has won two fouls across his three appearances at the Club World Cup and averaged 1.03 fouls won per 90 across his 34 Liga Portugal appearances during the 24/25 season.

Colwill should be tempted into some challenges against Benfica’s biggest goal threat here as Chelsea look to secure a spot in the quarter finals of the competition. His record across the recent season is really positive for a centre back and that should continue here. 

Chelsea have found the back of all three of their Club World Cup games so far and will be optimistic of continuing the trend against a Benfica side that they are favourites to beat in this knockout tie.

Chelsea’s attacking output should be further boosted by the presence of Liam Delap who scored his first goal for Chelsea against Esperance in the final group game and is set to continue as the number nine here. Chelsea have a wealth of attacking options that can support Delap with Pedro Neto also being quite bright so far with two goals in the competition.

Benfica have managed to keep two clean sheets in the Club World Cup so far, but one of these shut outs was against Auckland and the other was against a heavily rotated Bayern Munich side so we can expect the Portuguese side to be more regularly tested by this Chelsea side. 

Angel Di Maria has been really bright at the Club World Cup so far, despite being 37 years old. He’s scored three goals across his three games at the tournament making him Benfica’s top goalscorer in the Club World Cup as we reach the knockout stages of the competition.

Di Maria was just as bright during the 24/25 campaign for Benfica. He registered 26 goal contributions across his 43 appearances for Benfica across all competitions (18 goals, 8 assists). He pitched in at the highest level as well with three goal contributions across his nine Champions League appearances.

Di Maria’s record across the season as a whole combined with the fast start he’s made to this tournament put him in an excellent position to register a goal contribution in what Benfica hope will be the first of a long and successful knockout campaign. 

Fernandez has continued to show his importance to this Chelsea side with three goal contributions across his three appearances at the Club World Cup so far. He’s improved massively under the guidance of Enzo Maresca this season, but could get roped into a few scraps against his former club.

Fernandez is no stranger to a caution, he received eight yellow cards across his 36 Premier League appearances during the 24/25 season - only Levi Colwill (9) and Moises Caicedo (11) were shown more yellow cards than Enzo Fernandez for Chelsea in the Premier League during the most recent campaign.

Chelsea are marginal favourites here to overcome Benfica and reach the quarter finals. Chelsea will have been encouraged with how the draw has played out, if they win here they’ll set up a quarter final tie against either Palmeiras or Botafogo which is certainly a more promising task than facing PSG or Bayern at this stage of the competition.

Chelsea could find themselves with a more than achievable run to the final if they can get over this initial hurdle. Chelsea also have the benefit of having quite a deep squad which will aid them in the latter stages of the competition, especially with factors such as the heat and fatigue being massive at the Club World Cup.

Benfica enjoyed a decent group campaign and can take pride from topping the group but the Liga Portugal runners up won’t quite have enough to overcome the quality and depth of this Chelsea side.