📢 Can Espérance pull off a surprise and advance to the Club World Cup playoffs? The match takes place in Philadelphia, where the Tunisian club will look to capitalize on their opponent's shaky form. Chelsea have been far from impressive in this tournament — they have looked unconvincing in both of their matches and suffered a defeat to Flamengo (1-3) in their last outing. Espérance, on the other hand, are showing resilience and clearly have no intention of gifting their opponents three points. This game promises to be significant — for one, it's a chance to make waves globally, for the other, an attempt to salvage their reputation.

Head-to-Head

📊 Esperance and Chelsea have never faced each other in official matches before. 

Esperance Sportive de Tunis Team Overview

🟡 Many analysts believed that Espérance were merely making up the numbers at the Club World Cup. However, the team is surprising everyone. The Tunisian club not only avoids being a pushover, but they also maintain a genuine chance of reaching the playoffs—they currently have the same number of points as the team that won the Conference League at the end of May (3). In the second round, Espérance secured a crucial victory over Los Angeles (1-0), and they even looked more convincing than their opponents: more organized in defense, more creative in attack, and created more dangerous chances. Only a penalty conceded in injury time of the second half could have spoiled the overall picture, but fortune favored the Tunisians.

Chelsea Team Overview

🔵 Brazilian clubs have traditionally been tough opponents for Chelsea. Since 2007, only one European team has failed to win the Club World Cup in its old format — that was the Blues themselves, losing to Corinthians 1-0 in the 2012 final. This time, in the tournament's new format, conditions seemed favorable for the Londoners — no European clubs in their group meant they had every chance to comfortably secure the top spot and face an easier opponent in the playoffs. However, the Brazilians once again disrupted Chelsea's plans, defeating them 3-1 in the second round. In that match, Chelsea didn't even play well enough to earn a draw — they created very few chances in attack, scoring their only goal due to a glaring mistake by the Brazilians, and looked unconvincing in defense. Now, Chelsea can only advance to the playoffs from second place — they need at least a draw against Esperance in their final match.

Latest news

Esperance Sportive de Tunis

📣 Following their victory over Los Angeles, head coach Maher Kanzari acknowledged that the result has instilled a special confidence in his squad: "This win gave us the feeling that we can continue to compete further in the tournament." The coach also highlighted the performance of Youcef Belaili: "His goal was a result of excellent instinct, and his leadership qualities on the field played a crucial role. Belaili steps up at the right moment—and today was no exception."

🚫 The club faces no personnel issues—all players are ready to take the field.

Chelsea

🚫 Chelsea head into their upcoming match with a clean bill of health—every player on the roster is ready to take the field. However, there's a setback due to suspension: during the game against Flamengo, Nicolas Jackson managed to receive a straight red card just four minutes after coming on—he entered the pitch in the 64th minute and was sent off by the 68th for a reckless tackle, studs up, on an opponent's leg.

📣 Head coach Enzo Maresca acknowledged the fairness of the result and refrained from making excuses for the loss to Flamengo: "The red card was absolutely justified, there's no debate there. Congratulations to Flamengo—they deserved this win. We tried some new things in this game—with an eye on next season—but ultimately, the opponent proved stronger." Marc Cucurella, meanwhile, supported his young teammate, noting that it was simply an unfortunate play in a battle for the ball: "It was just a bit unlucky—Nicolas was trying to reach the ball and ended up catching the opponent's leg. These things happen. We'll be without him in the next match. He's a young and very talented player who needs to improve in such situations. But none of us are perfect—it's all part of football."

⚽️ Goal Prediction

⚽️ Goal Prediction

The upcoming match is unlikely to be a high-scoring affair. Chelsea are currently not in their best form, rarely showing their usual attacking prowess. Esperance, on the other hand, demonstrate solid defensive organization and are quite capable of keeping the game tight. Additionally, in 5 of the last 7 matches involving the Blues, no more than three goals have been scored. Therefore, we anticipate a low-scoring encounter and are backing under 3.5 goals.

🚩 Corner Prediction

Matches involving Esperance have not been favorable for those betting on a high number of corners in this Club World Cup. The team effectively prevents opponents from exploiting the flanks and creating numerous chances, maintaining a compact defense. For instance, only 6 corners were taken in their game against Flamengo, and just 4 against Los Angeles. Given this trend, the upcoming match is unlikely to be an exception. Therefore, we are backing under 9.5 corners.