Chelsea can finish anywhere between third and 17th and won't expect any favours from their former Premier League title-winning manager Antonio Conte, now in charge of a Napoli side who might need to win to reach the play-offs.
A win could ensure Chelsea climb up to five places – but it also might not save them from dropping just as far on goal difference. Barcelona, who host Copenhagen, realistically only need to win by one goal more than Chelsea to go above the Blues by virtue of scoring more often during the league phase.
The same applies for Sporting, with the caveat that they'd likely need to score one more goal on the night than Chelsea as well as by a bigger margin of victory.
Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Atalanta are also within range of overhauling Chelsea on goal difference and they all have favourable fixtures against sides in the bottom half of the table.
A draw for Chelsea is highly unlikely to be enough for automatic qualification as they might then be relying on all seven sides immediately below them failing to win and for 16th-placed Dortmund to not win by two clear goals or more.
Lose, and Chelsea are all but guaranteed to finish outside the top eight because either Inter or Dortmund will overtake them regardless of the result between those two sides.
Did you know?
- The only previous meetings between Napoli and Chelsea came in the 2011-12 Champions League, with the Blues eliminating the Italian side in the last 16 (5-4 on aggregate – lost 3-1 away before winning 4-1 at home in the second leg).
- Napoli's best European Cup performance came in 2022-23 when they reached the quarter-finals.
Key Napoli player – Scott McTominay
The former Manchester United midfielder was liberated by a move to Serie A. He finished 18th in the 2025 Ballon d'Or standings and has 22 goals in 67 appearances for Napoli.
McTominay has scored four goals in his last five Champions League appearances. The last Scot to score five goals in a single European Cup season was Mo Johnston in 1990-91 for Rangers.
Napoli squad summary
Former Chelsea players Kevin de Bruyne and Billy Gilmour were among 10 first-team players who missed their recent 3-0 defeat to Juventus with injury. Romelu Lukaku, another former blue, was back in action for the first time in seven months v Juventus.
