Joao Felix has made quite the impact since he joined Chelsea, probably the most dangerous player in both matches he has played but the red card at Fulham still hangs over him. He came back from suspension in his last match by scoring against West Ham and has now had 9 shots and 6 shots on target in his 1 and a half matches with Chelsea.

The key thing for Felix is he has shown that he can drop deep to get the ball as well as running in behind which makes him dangerous against Dortmund, he can make an impact if Dortmund step up or drop off defensively. He has had such an impact in both his matches so far he should at least get the opportunity for 1 shot on target in this match.

Chelsea have become a much more possession heavy team recently, in their last match against West Ham they had 72% possession and they have now averaged 60.4% possession over their last 5 matches. Against top teams, Borussia Dortmund don’t have as much possession, they had just 34% possession away and 27% at home against Manchester City as well as 44% at home to Bayern Munich. Enzo Fernandez was a metronome in the middle of the park against West Ham and attempted 94 passes.

Fernandez also attempted 75 passes in his first match for Chelsea against Fulham and averaged 109 passes attempted per 90 this season at Benfica. Dortmund showed in both their matches against Manchester City that they are happy to let their opposition have the ball in these one off matches and I expect them to let Chelsea have the ball in this match. Enzo Fernandez will dictate play again in this match and looks like excellent value for 70 or more passes here.

Felix has been the centre of every Chelsea game and sees so much possession for a player that plays that high up the pitch. When Chelsea have possession of the ball Felix is effectively given a free role where he will float into positions and channels and help link attacking play. Due to this style of play he has had plenty of passes in both his 2 Chelsea matches so far.

Despite only playing 57 minutes before his red card against Fulham, he had already got up to 24 passes. Against West Ham in the last match he hit 45. Against 2 teams that allowed Chelsea lots of possession, Felix was involved easily enough to surpass 30 passes over the full 90. While Dortmund may not allow Chelsea as much possession as Fulham and West Ham did, Chelsea should still see enough of the ball for Felix to hit at least 30 passes in this game.

Chelsea have averaged 5.5 corners per match so far this season and under Potter they have had even more. Since the World Cup break, Chelsea have averaged 5.75 corners per match and only against Manchester City and Nottingham Forest have they failed to have at least 5 corners in this time. Dortmund concede an average of 4.4 corners per 90 and against top teams would expect to concede even more than that, Bayern managed 4 corners away from home against Dortmund.

Chelsea’s wide players are so important to them and this style leads to a lot of positions out wide and that leads to a lot of corners. As Chelsea don’t have much height, I expect Dortmund to sit in a narrow defensive structure giving Chelsea even more room out wide, this only makes Chelsea corners more likely, so I think Chelsea will be able to get at least 5 corners in this match.