'We've studied them thoroughly' – Neestrup previews Chelsea clash

Jacob Neestrup says his F.C. Copenhagen side will need to be efficient in front of goal in order to challenge Chelsea on Thursdays second leg of their UEFA Conference League last-16 clash.

The Lions suffered a 2-1 defeat in Parken last week but Gabriel Pereira's late goal means the reverse tie is still in the balance.

"The chance is there, but it will be difficult to win here," says Neestrup. "We will play 100% for the win. Among other things, it requires us to be efficient, because we cannot expect to get too many chances."

The head coach didn't rule out playing five across the defence in west London on Thursday, saying: "In Parken we were a little deeper in the first half than we would have liked, but our play on the ball was the same, regardless of whether we play with four or five in the back line.

"There were several reasons why we chose to play with five in Parken, and one of them was to give Kevin Diks a free role, which brought greater flexibility. That can be a plus in these games. Our offensive structure can take many forms and that created some good situations in the first leg, which we just have to exploit better tomorrow."

FCK will have 2,000 fans in the sold-out away section of Stamford Bridge on Thursday and Neestrup says the 12th man could prove effective.

"It's strong and it's also necessary for us to have all the support we can possibly get," he says. "London is a great city, so I hope they have some good days over here, and that we can give them a good experience at Stamford Bridge. It looks like a good away section over in the corner and I'm sure we'll get to hear them throughout the game."

Neestrup himself was at Chelsea's recent match against Southampton and adds: "As always, we've studied them thoroughly, and you always get something extra when you see them live. No matter how they line up tomorrow, there's a difficult task ahead, but as I said, we'll play our chance. Even if it's just about getting a draw, both for our own sake and the fans' sake, but also for the sake of Danish football in relation to the European rankings."