Borussia Dortmund host Chelsea in the Champions League on Wednesday night as the Bundesliga side look to maintain their 100 percent start to 2023. The Signal Iduna Park-based club have won their five Bundesliga games, and secured a place in the DFB Pokal Quarter-Final after beating Bochum. But their game against Chelsea offers a different type of challenge.

Chelsea have just three wins since November and although unbeaten in their last four, Graham Potter’s side have collected just six points from a possible 12 in their last four Premier League games. But we all know that on a Champions League night, anything can happen.

Karim Adeyemi returns to the squad after serving a suspension in both the Bundesliga and Pokal. That means Gio Reyna is likely to return to the bench in place of the German, who has two goals in 2023. Youssoufa Moukoko will be missing after sustaining an injury against Werder Bremen, meaning a likely start for Sebastien Haller. In 2023, Dortmund have scored 17 goals in just 5 games, and are far more effective in the final third than they were earlier in the season.

Dortmund’s mentality has often been brought into question but that no longer seems to be a problem. Against Augsburg and Mainz, Edin Terzic’s side dug deep to secure three points in the latter stages of games. In times of need, someone has stepped up. It’s something that Dortmund have been missing over the years, but they appear to be learning from previous mistakes.

In their 12 games at the Signal Iduna Park across all competitions this season, Dortmund have only failed to score in one of them, a 0-0 draw against Manchester City. Only Bayern Munich average more chances that Dortmund’s 8/90 in the Bundesliga this season and with Julian Brandt, Marco Reus, Adeyemi and Haller, it’s likely that Dortmund will get several chances.

Watch out for Brandt vs Marc Cucurella, the former has silenced critics with his performances and despite lacking speed, Brandt has the technical ability to cause the Spaniard problems. Only Jonas Hofmann has completed more Key Passes than Brandt (47) in the Bundesliga this season, whilst he leads the way for xA (5.8).

But although impressive in the final third, Dortmund are still prone to conceding, especially from set-pieces which is something Chelsea can benefit from with the height of Kai Havertz, Benoît Badiashile and Co. BVB have kept just three clean sheets in their last nine games in all competitions. Because of that, Both Teams to Score on Wednesday looks like excellent value.

Club Brugge have been one of the surprises in this Champions League so far. However, the team’s form is currently far from that of the group stage. The belief amongst the fanvase since qualification is actually quite low. A striking fact: Last weekend, there were still 3,000 tickets on sale for this historic match against Benfica in the last 16.

Benfica may not be considered the best team in the world but certainly are the one with the most effective transfer policy. Over the last five seasons, Benfica sold over €700 million worth of players. No club does better. Last month, they sold Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea for a record fee. In competition, they are also doing great. In the group stage, Roger Schmidt’s team remained unbeaten in a group with Maccabi Haifa, Juventus and PSG. In the Portuguese league, they are five points ahead and won the last four league games without conceding a single goal.

The arrival of new coach Scott Parker did not yet provide the expected impact for Club Brugge. Although Club’s form curve is slightly positive week after week, results continue to disappoint. Up front in particular, football is being played more hesitantly than before. Exponent of this is Roman Yaremchuk. The Ukrainian was given his chance in the starting eleven in recent games but delivered weak performances time after time. Confidence is visibly low with Club Brugge’s record acquisition. A mental coach was even brought in especially for the purpose. Offensively, Lang is the only player in form Brugge can rely on against Benfica. Jutgla and Skov Olsen might not get fit in time.

Against Antwerp, Parker tried to play Noa Lang out as a deep striker. However, this experiment lasted only 1 game, Lang is clearly better off as a winger. In all likelihood, Yaremchuk will therefore feature against his ex-club.

We expect Benfica to be dominant and Club Brugge to mainly chase the ball in this match. Given the form of both teams, the class difference should ensure a victory for the Portuguese. Anyway, Club Brugge will have to count on some saves from Mignolet to force a viable position for the return match.