Just thought it would be interesting to have your say on our chances next year to win the Big Ears Cup :) ! 

don't know why, but I got a good feeling about this 

It all depends on how well we recruit this summer.

39 minutes ago, Barrettinator said:

It all depends on how well we recruit this summer.

Absolutely. Actually the title defense and a potential "miracle of kiev" UCL trophy are totally dependent on the summer transfer window. It's all about buying wisely (and big!) this summer. City are already setting the tone, we need to step up too !! 

Champions League 2017/18: Who could we meet?

The Blues are back in Europe next season and here the official Chelsea website takes a look at some of our possible opponents in the Champions League group stages.

After a year without continental action for the first time in two decades, Chelsea return to Europe’s top table next term with the aim of repeating our 2012 triumph in club football’s most prestigious competition.

As champions of England, Antonio Conte’s men will be in Pot One when the draw is made in late August. We will be joined there by our fellow league winners from the seven other top-ranked UEFA Associations: Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Russia, Portugal and Ukraine.

The latter country have a place in the top pot because Real Madrid won in Saturday’s final in Cardiff having already being crowned La Liga champions.

So they are one of the teams we definitely cannot meet in the group stages, along with this year’s runners-up Juventus, Bayern Munich, Monaco, Spartak Moscow, Benfica and Shakhtar Donetsk.

That means there are some big hitters who will occupy a place in Pot Two, including regular European foes Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, as well as Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Porto.

The two Manchester clubs will also be in that pot but of course we cannot face a team from the same association at that early juncture in the competition. Should Sevilla qualify from the third qualifying round, they will complete that pot and provide potential fresh opposition for the Blues.

The picture becomes less clear as the possibilities for the Pot Three and Pot Four are examined.

Because of their low coefficients the Dutch champions Feyenoord, opponents in our maiden Champions League venture in 1999/00 (pictured below), will almost certainly be in Pot Four, as will German debutants RB Leipzig who, along with Dortmund, are the only potential new opponents of the 22 already-qualified teams.
 
Other guaranteed group-stage entrants Basel, Anderlecht, Roma and Besiktas are likely to be in the third pot, though that will depend on which 10 teams emerge from qualifying successful.

Should Liverpool make it, they would probably join Tottenham in Pot Three.

A number of other teams in qualifying will have high hopes of making it to the competition proper, including Napoli (who could be as high as Pot Two), Ajax, Dinamo Kiev and Olympiakos. They all come in at the third qualifying round stage.

These lists are only provisional with qualifying still to take place. It could mean some teams shift pots before the draw for the group stage on 24 August. The final is in Kiev on 26 May.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2017/06/champions-league-2017-18--who-could-we-meet-.html

Right now, we are probably the 7th/8th best side in Europe.

Let's see if the summer sees us reinforce to possibly the 5th best.

Then see who we get in the group and take it from there.

Does my head in when people say "we should get to semi's/quarters" or the likes in a cup competition. Unless you know who we'd face at every possible stage it's nothing but hot air.

I think we have the best chance of any team from England, but the Spanish teams/Bayern/Juve and even the likes of Monaco/Dortmund are well ahead of teams from England.

In current form quarters is a realistic result for us, if we have a blinder and get an easy run could see a semi with some players brought in, winning it next season, unlikely, very unlikely but you never know. 

Yeah, I've gone for the 1/4s due to unknown comings and goings.

Anybody know Contes record in the champions league?

I just want to see us get some fun teams in the group stages. Dortmund, Roma and a Scandinavian team maybe. Hope we stay out of Russia and Donetsk

14 hours ago, Blue_candy said:

Anybody know Contes record in the champions league?

Wikipedia usually 

Went for the quarter finals, as we always seem to stumble in the semi's

Would be happy with QF, am not expecting to go any further. We've been good this season, but not that good. Plus Conte's record in the CL isn't great.

Not making the quarters always feels like a failure.

Cup competetitions are always a lottery 1 bad day and your out.

I would expect us to get out of our group, hopefully quite comfortably after that its as much luck and grit as skill. Obviously if we recruit well we have more of a chance but as we have previously shown the best team doesn't always win.

I will back Conteto get us to semi finals though, no matter what happens over the summer, he has brought back some of this teams winning spirit and that goes a long way 

Well, I guess it is going to be harder than expected with Hazard out for 3 months now !! I hate those useless international breaks !!! 

For me how far we progress depends on the draw and who we sign this summer, I don't think it's a given we'll make the quarters if we get a 'group of death' scenario (i.e. Dortmund/Roma)

Edited June 7, 20179 yr by the special one

Went for quarter finals, I just can't see anything beyond that.

be nice to get the latter stages. would love to get to the semis, but might be difficult with the likes of barca, real, atletico, bayern, juve, city, utd, to go up against to get there. i would love to tie real madrid or bayern. i want to see us tested against the big boys, and it's been a while since we played either real or bayern. 

my ideal group would be something like, because it's a good test and if (obviously hope we qualified) we got knocked out the group stages, we have the chance of winning europa.

chelsea

barcelona

roma 

olympiakos

in my opinion, all but away vs barcelona they're winnable games. i don't think roma will strengthen much in summer, olympiakos we should beat over 2 legs, and barcelona haven't impressed this season and i think they're genuinely a team on the slide, and i think we would have a great chance vs them over both legs, especially at home. 

 

Edited June 7, 20179 yr by enigma

22 hours ago, TrueBlueBIH said:

Went for the quarter finals, as we always seem to stumble in the semi's

Not all ways 

Depends on a lot of things.

But the minimum/expected is Quarter Finals. Depending on the opposition, we can set the expectations.

18 hours ago, Kev56 said:

Not all ways 

Of course it was not always Kev :) , but you understood what i meant by it.

Win it.

We are way behind Madrid, Barca and Bayern. Statement purchases like Sanchez will help bring down that gap but I am not too optimistic by the way things are going so far - wasting 100M on Lukaku, an area we really didn't need strengthening before the Costa fiasco. Quarters is the best I give us.