Champions League Group D

Venue: Stamford Bridge

Date: Wednesday 21 October

Kick-off: 1945 BST

After defeat to Villa in the Premier League at the weekend, Chelsea will be looking to at least keep their run going in the Champions League when they face Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge tonight. Following on from our wins against Porto and Apoel Nicosia, victory tonight would edge us ever closer towards the knockout stage.

MANAGER’S THOUGHTS

With Saturday’s set-piece disasters still in his mind, Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti says “We have worked on this particular situation (set-pieces). It is difficult to train for set-plays, it’s like the difficulty in training for a penalty, because the situation changes. It’s different, but we work and we have to improve. You can play a good match, like against Aston Villa, but if you don’t pay attention for six seconds at a set-play you can get a bad result. We played well and on Tuesday we have to continue to do that and win. We want first place in the group and have a great opportunity of achieving it. We can play better in the Champions League but at the moment it is important to win, because we want to play our best in March and April when the matches are very important. (Atlético) haven’t done well this season but they have excellent quality. Agüero and Forlán are dangerous forwards – we have to pay attention because Agüero has fantastic quality and can settle a match.”

Not that Abel Resino is without his share of concerns going into this one either, and with just one win in La Liga and a solitary point from two Champions League games so far this season, the Atletico boss suggests “It’s a big motivation to play against a team like Chelsea. We all know we’re in a bad situation and we really need to turn it round. It reminds me of the time we lost to Santander and then managed to turn things around. It’s easy to talk negatively but it’s all about trying to turn this situation around. We’re being punished too much for the way we are playing. We only need two results for the team to relax and start playing football, and that’s what we’re trying to get. We can win, there’s a possibility of us doing that. We’re in bad shape but we’re working hard. Our problem has been that our strikers are not getting the chance to put the ball in the net. We’ve shown in two games – one in Greece (against Panathiniakos FC in the play-offs), the other in Spain (against APOEL) – that we can beat anyone on our day.”

SQUAD NEWS

For Chelsea. Jose Bosingwa (knee) misses out through injury, so it looks as if Branislav Ivanovic will continue to deputise. Didier Drogba sits out the last of his three-match European ban, although Ballack (ankle) and John Obi Mikel (ankle) look set to return. Alex (groin) although back from his lengthy spell out, lacks match fitness.

Atletico meanwhile, rested Diego Forlan ahead of this one, so he’ll be fighting fit. Pernia (collarbone) Camacho (hip), Valera (left abductor) and Roberto (thigh) all miss out.

CHELSEA TEAM (from): Cech, Hilario, Turnbull, Ivanovic, A Cole, Carvalho, Terry, Belletti, Hutchinson, Bruma, Essien, Lampard, J Cole, Ballack, Malouda, Zhirkov, Deco, Kalou, Sturridge, Anelka, Borini.

PREDICTION

Not an easy one to call seeing as we’ve never met in a competitive game but with only one defeat in eleven games to a Spanish side at home, the statistics look good enough. Mind you, I won’t be getting over excited about Atletico’s apparent poor form ahead of this fixture, bearing in mind our defence will be up against Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan – not to mention trying to remember what to do when it comes to set-pieces.

Filed under: Europe, Match Day, Preview