Pat Nevin has insisted Chelsea must establish a two-goal cushion during the first leg at home against Dynamo Kyiv on Thursday and feels the tie could be their biggest test yet in the Europa League this term.
Maurizio Sarri’s men host Ukrainian outfit Dynamo Kyiv in a round of 16 first leg clash in the Europa League on Thursday night at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues will be boosted by their back-to-back derby wins over Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham respectively in the Premier League as they aim to continue their progress in Europe this season.
And ahead of their crucial first leg clash in west London, Nevin has insisted Chelsea must secure a two-goal cushion in the home leg to ensure they have it easy on their trip to the Ukraine.
The Chelsea legend also admitted that Dynamo Kyiv will be their toughest test yet in the Europa League this season and conceded he would have ideally preferred to have home advantage in the second leg.
“Kiev will however be a tough nut, certainly the hardest tie of the Europa League campaign so far”, Nevin wrote in his column for the club’s official website.
“For this one I would certainly have preferred to have the home tie second, just to be able to control who does and doesn’t need rest a little more.
“As it is, anything less than a two-goal cushion and we will have to ask all the big players to travel to the Ukraine and maybe slog it out for the entire 90 minutes.”
Chelsea beat Malmo in the previous round of the Europa League, while Dynamo Kyiv edged past Olympiacos to set up the knockout tie against the west Londoners.
