Chelsea head into their opening Champions League fixture on the back of an awful start to their 2015/16 Premier League campaign.
The Blues have won just four points from the opening five league fixtures, losing to Manchester City, Crystal Palace, and most recently, a 3-1 defeat to Everton.
And after such a shaky start to the Premier League campaign, anything but a win for Jose Mourinho’s men could spell trouble for the Blues.
Maccabi Tel-Aviv, on the other hand, is unbeaten in the Israeli Premier League, with two wins and a draw from their opening three fixtures.
Both sides head into their opening Group G fixture after contrasting starts to their respective league campaigns, and Tel-Aviv could make life a little more uncomfortable than expected for Chelsea on Wednesday night.
However, the Blues, now in their 14th group stage, traditionally start well in the Champions League, with eight victories, four draws and just one defeat coming on matchday one.
Chelsea began last season’s campaign with a 1-1 draw at home to FC Schalke 04, before going on to win their group for the ninth time in the last 12 campaigns.
The Londoners couldn’t kick on however as they were knocked out by Paris Saint-Germain on away goals in the last 16.
Meanwhile Maccabi qualified for the UEFA Champions League for just the second time in their history, after beating FC Basel, who coincidentally are the only side to have beaten Chelsea on matchday one in Europe, on away goals in the qualifying round.
The Israeli side were dealt an extremely dodgy hand the last time they featured in the Champions League back in 2004, when they had the misfortune of sharing a group with three former winners of the competition: FC Bayern Munich, Juventus and Ajax.
And whilst Chelsea and Maccabi have never faced each other before, but here are a few links between the clubs.
Maccabi coach Slaviša Jokanović is a former Chelsea player, and he played for Chelsea the last time the Blues visited Isreal, alongside John Terry, in the UEFA Cup. Jokanvić started 28 games in a two-year spell at the club, also making 25 appearances as a sub. Maccabi defender Tal Ben Haim is also a former Blue to have played alongside Terry. The Israeli centre-back began the season under Jose Mourinho before his departure and made 17 appearances for the Blues in the 2007/08 season, as well as six substitute appearances.
Maccabi’s only ever previous encounter with an English club came against Stoke City in the UEFA Europa League group stage in 2011/12, where they suffered a 2-1 defeat at home and a 3-0 defeat at Stoke.
Chelsea have Thibaut Courtois and Bertrand Traore out through injury, whilst Oscar, who hasn’t featured for the Blues since the opening day of the season due to a knee injury, could make his return to the side.
Here is who we would start here at Read Chelsea, for the clash with Maccabi.
