The business end of Chelsea’s UEFA Conference League campaign starts tonight, and club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton are primed and prepped for the Danish capital…

Chelsea and Copenhagen were the two top-ranked sides at the outset of the competition in terms of the UEFA coefficients and the winners after next week's finale at Stamford Bridge will face Molde or Legia Warsaw in the quarter-finals.

The Londoners have had a clear eight days to rest and prepare for the first leg of this Round of 16 tie, whereas the Danish league leaders travelled to Aalborg on Sunday evening, drawing 0-0.

The Blues enjoyed a perfect league stage, winning all six fixtures to top the table, while the Lions finished 19th and had to overcome Heidenheim 4-3 on aggregate in the play-offs to progress.

Cole Palmer, Trevoh Chalobah and Mathis Amougou have been added to Chelsea's squad but Wes Fofana and Romeo Lavia will miss out on the knockout rounds as their workload is managed.

Nicolas Jackson, Marc Guiu and Noni Madueke have also not travelled to Denmark due to their respective injuries.

Key additions for the hosts include goalkeeper Diant Ramaj on loan from Dortmund and highly-rated homegrown teenager Roony Bardghji.

Chelsea scored 26 goals in the previous stage – more than three times the Lions’ share – and conceded five compared to the Danes’ nine.

Chelsea have won on all three occasions we have played at the sold-out Parken Stadion – twice against Copenhagen and most recently Nordsjaelland in 2012.

Man City won 3-1 there a year ago at this stage of the Champions League, but Man United were beaten 4-3 in the group games.

The Blues will be targeting a fourth successive away victory in Europe as we attempt to bring home an advantage for the second leg next Thursday.