Chelsea v Ajax facts

Having joined Ajax on six Group H points with a late winner in Amsterdam, Chelsea are now looking to pick up their first points at home in this season's UEFA Champions League.

• Chelsea substitute Michy Batshuayi scored the only goal four minutes from time at the Johan Cruijff ArenA on 23 October, securing the Blues' second successive away win in the section – and taking them level with an Ajax side who had won their first two games.

Form guide
Chelsea
• Ross Barkley missed a late penalty on Matchday 1 as Chelsea returned to the UEFA Champions League after a year away with a 1-0 loss to Valencia – their first European reverse at Stamford Bridge in 12 matches (W7 D4).

• Frank Lampard's side responded with a 2-1 victory at LOSC Lille thanks to goals from Tammy Abraham and Willian. The Matchday 3 win at Ajax extended Chelsea's unbeaten run in European away matches to nine (W7 D2).

• This is only Chelsea's fourth game against a Dutch club; they beat Feyenoord 3-1 home and away in the 1999/2000 UEFA Champions League second group stage.

• Third in last season's Premier League, Chelsea also qualified for the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League group stage as the winners of the UEFA Europa League, and are taking part for the 16th time; only once, as holders in 2012/13, have they failed to reach the knockout stages.

• The Blues were UEFA Europa League winners under Maurizio Sarri in 2018/19, beating Arsenal 4-1 in the competition's first all-English final since Tottenham overcame Wolves in the 1972 UEFA Cup. Eden Hazard scored twice at the Baku Olympic Stadium, Olivier Giroud and Pedro Rodríguez also finding the net as Chelsea claimed their second UEFA Europa League title having also triumphed in 2013, their only other appearance in the competition.

• The London club have scored three goals or more in five of their last 11 European matches. Their tally of 36 goals in last season's UEFA Europa League was one short of the competition record set by Porto in 2010/11.

• Chelsea were unbeaten in European competition last season, claiming the UEFA Europa League with a record of W12 D3 F36 A10. Before losing to Valencia on Matchday 1, their last continental defeat had come at Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg in March 2018 (0-3), although they did lose on penalties against Liverpool in the UEFA Super Cup this August following a 2-2 draw after 120 minutes in Istanbul.

Ajax
• Ajax kicked off Group H in style with a pair of 3-0 wins, Quincy Promes scoring in both matches against LOSC in Amsterdam and Valencia in Spain.

• Ajax went all the way from the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round to the semi-finals in 2018/19, losing on away goals to Tottenham in the last four after conceding six minutes into added time to go down 3-2 at home and bow out after a 3-3 aggregate draw.

• Erik ten Hag's team lost only two of their 18 European matches in 2018/19 (W10 D6), when they became the first side in European Cup history to reach the semi-finals having come through three qualifying rounds and the first Dutch club to get to the UEFA Champions League last four since PSV Eindhoven in 2004/05.

• Champions of the Netherlands for the 34th time in 2018/19 – their first league title since 2014 – Ajax also lifted the Dutch Cup to claim their eighth domestic double, and a first since 2002.

• They kicked off this season's UEFA Champions League in the third qualifying round, seeing off Greek side PAOK 5-4 on aggregate after a 2-2 away draw and a 3-2 home win secured by an 85th-minute Dušan Tadić penalty. The second-leg victory in Amsterdam ended a run of four home European matches without a win (D2 L2).

• A goalless draw at APOEL in the first leg of the play-offs ended Ajax's run of scoring in 14 successive European matches, but a 2-0 home win booked their group return. This season's results have stretched their unbeaten away run in Europe to 12 matches (W6 D6).

• Donny van de Beek's goal gave Ajax a 1-0 win at Tottenham in last season's semi-final first leg. The Amsterdam club have not lost in their last three visits to England; a 2-1 reverse at Aston Villa in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage is Ajax's sole defeat in their last six (W2 D3).

• Victory at Spurs was, however, only Ajax's third away to English clubs in their 12 visits (D5 L4). A 2-1 win at Manchester United in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League round of 32 ended a 40-year wait for an away victory over English opponents, although it failed to overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit.

• A 3-0 loss at Tottenham in the 1981/82 European Cup Winners' Cup first round is Ajax's only defeat in London, however, where they have otherwise recorded two wins and two draws against English clubs. Ajax also claimed their first European Cup in London, beating Panathinaikos 2-0 in the 1971 final at Wembley.

Links and trivia
• Have played in England:
Dušan Tadić (Southampton 2014–18)
Daley Blind (Manchester United 2014–18)
Siem de Jong (Newcastle 2014–16)

• Blind was in the Manchester United team that beat Ajax 2-0 in the 2017 UEFA Europa League final at the Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden.

• Promes scored the Netherlands' final goal in a 3-1 extra-time victory against England in the UEFA Nations League semi-final on 6 June. Barkley played 120 minutes for England.

• International team-mates:
Christian Pulišić & Sergiño Dest (United States)
Willy Caballero & Nicolás Tagliafico (Argentina)

Latest news

Chelsea
• Chelsea's seven-match winning run in all competitions was ended by a 2-1 home defeat against Manchester United in the last 16 of the English League Cup on 30 October. They had scored 21 goals and conceded only five in that sequence of victories.

• On Saturday Chelsea made it seven successive away wins in all competitions, goals from Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulišić securing a 2-1 Premier League victory at Watford. That made Frank Lampard the second Blues manager to win seven straight away games, after Bobby Campbell between February and April 1989.

• Pulišić scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 win at Burnley on 26 October, the second American to hit a Premier League treble after Clint Dempsey for Fulham in 2012.

• Aged 21 years 38 days, Pulišić became Chelsea's youngest Premier League hat-trick scorer; he beat the record set by Tammy Abraham 42 days earlier, in a 5-2 win at Wolves on 14 September. Those hauls for Abraham and Pulišić made Chelsea the first team in Premier League history to have two different hat-trick scorers in a single campaign aged 21 or under.

• Chelsea were 7-1 winners against fourth division Grimsby in the English League Cup third round at Stamford Bridge on 25 September, their biggest win since a 6-0 defeat of Qarabağ on Matchday 1 of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League. They last scored seven goals in a game on 23 December 2012, when they beat Aston Villa 8-0 in the Premier League. It was Lampard's first home win as Chelsea manager at the fifth attempt; his team also won the next two at Stamford Bridge before losing to Manchester United.

• The Blues drew 2-2 against Liverpool in the UEFA Super Cup on 14 August, losing 5-4 on penalties in Istanbul.

• Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been out since 16 May with an Achilles tendon problem.

• Antonio Rüdiger had been out since 28 April due to a knee injury before returning at Wolves on 14 September; he was withdrawn at half-time with a groin strain and has not played since.

• Emerson Palmieri limped off with a thigh eight minutes into Italy's game in Finland on 8 September and returned against Liverpool on 22 September but had to be replaced early on after suffering a recurrence of the injury. He returned to play 90 minutes at Watford.

• N'Golo Kanté suffered a groin injury in the warm-up for France's European Qualifier against Iceland on 11 October and had to pull out of the game; he has not played since.

• Andreas Christensen has been out since being replaced late on in Denmark's 1-0 home win against Switzerland in UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying on 12 October due to a thigh injury.

• Ross Barkley has been sidelined by an ankle problem since 19 October.

• On 1 October Ashley Cole, who won the 2009/10 Premier League title, four FA Cups, the 2012 UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League the following year, rejoined Chelsea as an Under-15 coach.

Ajax
• Siem de Jong's next appearance in UEFA club competition will be his 50th.

• Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is the oldest player to have appeared in this season's UEFA Champions League, on Matchday 3 against Chelsea aged 36 years 72 days.

• Matchday 3 is Ajax's only defeat in all competitions this season (W15 D4). Their previous loss had also come at home to a London club, against Tottenham in the UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg on 8 May.

• The Amsterdammers returned to winning ways with a 4-0 defeat of Feyenoord on 27 October; they have won ten of their 12 Eredivisie fixtures so far this season (D2), triumphing 4-2 at Zwolle on Friday.

• Quincy Promes scored twice at Zwolle and has seven goals in his last seven Eredivisie appearances.

• David Neres also got two goals on Friday to make it three in his last two matches while Hakim Ziyech provided two assists; he has five in his last five Eredivisie matches.

• Ajax have scored 19 goals in winning their last six league fixtures, keeping four clean sheets and conceding only three goals.

• Ajax lost three players to injury at Zwolle; Lisandro Martínez sustained a knee problem in the first half and was replaced by Edson Álvarez, who then took an elbow to the face and left the field just after an hour. Donny van de Beek also picked up a knock midway through the second half.

• Joint top scorer in the 2018/19 Eredivisie with 28 goals, Dušan Tadić has scored six in 12 league games so far this season, and has nine in all competitions with a further ten assists.

• Ajax picked up the Dutch Super Cup, the Johan Cruijff Trophy, on 27 July when they defeated last season's Eredivisie runners-up PSV Eindhoven 2-0 thanks to goals from Kasper Dolberg and Daley Blind.