Both hitting historic milestones in the Champions League, Chelsea and Ajax collide at Stamford Bridge in Tuesday's league-phase contest.
The Blues are contesting their 200th game in the tournament proper and are seeking their fourth win on the spin in all tournaments, while the Dutch side are simply aiming to get off the continental mark in their 250th top-level European match.
Match preview
Condemning Jose Mourinho to a miserable West London homecoming, Chelsea made it second time lucky in the 2025-26 Champions League when they welcomed their erstwhile manager's Benfica to the English capital on September 30.
The Club World Cup winners did not even need to put the ball in the back of the net themselves to earn a 1-0 triumph - Benfica's Richard Rios inadvertently did so for them - and an increasingly familiar red card, this time to Joao Pedro, did not prove fatal towards the end.
The momentum train has been going at full throttle for Chelsea since their beating of Benfica, as Enzo Maresca's men are now revelling in a three-match winning run across all competitions, claiming back-to-back Premier League successes over Liverpool and Nottingham Forest either side of the international break.
The latter result - a comprehensive 3-0 victory at the City Ground - cost Ange Postecoglou his job in Nottingham, but few are now questioning Maresca's position, following momentary talk of a possible change in management during the Blues' September slump.
Now, the Italian coach will endeavour to prolong a stellar sequence that has seen Chelsea avoid defeat in each of their last 15 UCL group stage/league-phase Champions League games at home, where they have been beaten in just two of their last 60 top-level European matches.
Ajax manager Johnny Heitinga pictured on October 18, 2025
On the other side of the continental coin, Ajax only have to travel back a few weeks for their last Champions League defeat on home turf, succumbing to Inter Milan's superiority in a 2-0 matchday one defeat before a Marseille mauling last time out.
Johnny Heitinga's men shipped four to the Ligue 1 powerhouses without reply at the Orange Velodrome, and with zero points, zero goals and six conceded from their two Champions League games so far this season, the Eredivisie outfit find themselves bottom but one in the 36-team standings.
Only tournament debutants Kairat have performed worse than Ajax, who have failed to claim a single point from their first two Champions League games for the first time since the 2012-13 edition - another blot on the notebook of their under-pressure head coach.
Ex-Liverpool assistant Heitinga also oversaw a dismal 2-0 home defeat to AZ Alkmaar at the weekend - leaving Ajax nine points off the top of the Eredivisie tableand boasting just one win from their last six games - but the Amsterdam board are yet to wield the axe.
Heitinga also remains safe in spite of the fact that his Ajax side have conceded at least twice in each of their last six games in all tournaments, an unpleasant statistic before their second visit to Stamford Bridge, where Wednesday's game has a lot to live up after the 4-4 extravaganza between the two sides in 2019.
Chelsea Champions League form:
Chelsea form (all competitions):
L
W
L
W
W
W
Ajax Champions League form:
Ajax form (all competitions):
L
D
W
L
D
L
Team News
Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez celebrates scoring on August 30, 2025
For the fourth time in six matches, Chelsea ended the success over Forest with 10 men following Malo Gusto's late dismissal, but the Frenchman will instead serve his suspension in the Blues' Premier League clash with Sunderland this weekend.
However, the hosts are still missing Cole Palmer (groin), Mykhaylo Mudryk (doping ban), Levi Colwill (ACL), Dario Essugo (thigh), Benoit Badiashile (muscle) and Liam Delap (hamstring), while Enzo Fernandez will need a once-over due to his knee problem.
In brighter news, Moises Caicedo was fit enough to play 45 minutes on Saturday and could now step in for Romeo Lavia in midfield, but former Ajax defender Jorrel Hato may have to accept a place on the bench against his old employers.
On the visitors' end, Hato's fellow left-back Owen Wijndal was taken off with a muscular problem in his side's defeat to Marseille on matchday two, and the 25-year-old remains out of contention for the time being.
The Dutch titans are also ruing the absences of experienced attackers, as well as midfield fulcrum Branco van den Boomen, who is dealing with a back injury.
Dolberg's absence should guarantee a start for one-time Manchester United striker Wout Weghorst in the number nine role, while Liverpool loanee James McConnell is an alternative to the stricken Van den Boomen in midfield.
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Sanchez; James, Adarabioyo, Fofana, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo; Estevao, Buonanotte, Neto; Pedro
Ajax possible starting lineup:
Jaros; Gaaei, Sutalo, Baas, Rosa; Klaassen, Taylor; Edvardsen, Gloukh, Godts; Weghorst
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We say: Chelsea 4-0 Ajax
Far from the force they used to be in Europe, Ajax's squad is largely a mix of ageing veterans and embryonic talents who have little experience of Champions League football, and it has shown so far.
Heitinga's men should therefore not put up much of a fight against the in-form Blues, who could subject the former UCL winners to quite the humiliation at Stamford Bridge.
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