Chelsea and Ajax head into today’s Champions League encounter at Stamford Bridge having both earned six points from their opening three matches in Group H.
However, as a result of their narrow 1-0 success in Amsterdam last month, the Premier League outfit hold the smallest of advantages over their Dutch rivals.
After back-to-back setbacks against Valencia and Liverpool in September, few would have predicted that Chelsea would go on to win eight of their next nine matches in all competitions.
The upturn in form has put the Blues in a promising position on both the domestic and European front, and Frank Lampard will be eager to continue their positive run against quality opponents this evening.
While Lampard will no doubt remain frustrated with his side struggling to keep many clean sheets, Chelsea have been impressive at the other end of the pitch with each of their attacking players all making a contribution.
The most notable recent return has come from Christian Pulisic, who has four strikes from his last two Premier League outings, but it was Tammy Abraham who chipped in with a goal and an assist as Chelsea recorded a 2-1 triumph away at Watford at the weekend.
Despite the west Londoners equalling their club record of seven successive away wins, Lampard’s team cannot afford to get any complacency ahead of facing a side who have also been impressive of late.
Ajax’s sole defeat from 19 matches in all competitions is the one against the English outfit on Matchday Three, with 14 wins and four draws coming from the other outings.
Erik ten Hag will have small concerns over how Ajax almost blew a three-goal advantage against PEC Zwolle at the weekend, before David Neres last strike earned a 4-2 success.
Nevertheless, losing out to Chelsea has not had a detrimental effect on this group of players, who have already established a six-point advantage at the top of the Eredivisie standings.
While simply qualifying for the last 16 of this competition would be regarded as another significant achievement, Ten Hag knows that registering maximum points at Stamford Bridge would put the club in an excellent position to go through as group winners.
