{"id":380378,"date":"2026-01-20T13:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T13:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/380378\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T13:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T13:52:18","slug":"opta-supercomputer-predicts-where-chelsea-will-finish-in-champions-league-table-ahead-of-pafos-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/380378\/","title":{"rendered":"Opta supercomputer predicts where Chelsea will finish in Champions League table ahead of Pafos game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Chelsea have a huge game against Pafos in the Champions League on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>While Pafos are not the strongest side that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/club\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chelsea<\/a> will face in Europe\u2019s elite competition this season, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/tag\/liam-rosenior\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Liam Rosenior\u2019s<\/a> men desperately need a win.<\/p>\n<p>Last time out, they lost 2-1 to Atalanta, leaving them 13th in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/tag\/champions-league\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Champions League<\/a> league phase table.<\/p>\n<p> Discuss: Chelsea are a better side without Cole Palmer at the moment\u2026 \ud83e\udee8 <\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TCC-9-1-819x1024.png\" alt=\"Chelsea with Cole Palmer, and without him this season.\" class=\"wp-image-346260\" \/>     <\/p>\n<p> \ud83d\udc47 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say <\/p>\n<p>It means that, as things stand, Chelsea will miss out on automatic qualification to the knockout round and will have to take part in a play-off. Going into the Pafos game, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/match-coverage\/chelsea-player-ratings-vs-brentford-as-south-american-duo-prove-too-hot-to-handle\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chelsea have a bit of momentum after beating Brentford<\/a> in the west London derby last weekend.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2220573714-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"UEFA Champions League 2025\/26 First Qualifying Round Draw\" class=\"wp-image-317496\" \/>Photo by Kristian Skeie \u2013 UEFAOpta supercomputer predicts Chelsea to miss out on top eight<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea may very well beat Pafos this week, but Opta\u2019s supercomputer is not giving them much chance of finishing in the top eight ahead of the match.<\/p>\n<p>According to its results, which have been shared by Opta Analyst on <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/OptaAnalyst\/status\/2013271937913332079?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">X<\/a>, Chelsea only have a 24.6% chance of automatically qualifying for the knockout stage.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, when it comes to finishing in the play-off places, they have a 75.4% chance. It means Chelsea can probably expect to play an additional two games before the knockout round proper begins.<\/p>\n<p>After participating in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/tag\/club-world-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Club World Cup<\/a> last summer and making it to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/tag\/carabao-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Carabao Cup<\/a> semi-finals this season, it is the last thing that the Blues need.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea could be about to get some reinforcements, though, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/transfer-news\/what-chelsea-have-made-abundantly-clear-to-rennes-about-jeremy-jacquet-deal\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jeremy Jacquet is currently a target at Stamford Bridge<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"618\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2252021650-1024x618.jpg\" alt=\"Joao Pedro of Chelsea celebrates scoring\" \/>Photo by Chris Ricco \u2013 UEFA\/UEFA via Getty ImagesHow Chelsea could line up against Pafos<\/p>\n<p>Given the predicament that Chelsea are in, you suspect that Rosenior will put out a strong team.<\/p>\n<p>Because of recent injuries, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/club\/manager\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chelsea head coach<\/a> may need to rest Cole Palmer and Reece James, but most of the Blues\u2019 regular starters should be on the pitch this Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p> Which changes would YOU make to face Pafos? \ud83d\udd8b\ufe0f <\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"737\" height=\"960\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/lineup-image-33-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-346354\" \/>     <\/p>\n<p> \ud83d\udc47 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say <\/p>\n<p>After that game, Chelsea travel to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace, who have just sold Marc Guehi to Manchester City.<\/p>\n<p>  Join Our Newsletter <\/p>\n<p>Receive a digest of our best Chelsea content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chelsea have a huge game against Pafos in the Champions League on Wednesday. While Pafos are not the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1669,218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-380378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-champions-league","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}