Venue: Stamford Bridge
Date: Wednesday 19 October
Kick-off: 1945 BST
Tonight’s Champions League game sees us face a new side for us in Genk although Andre Villas-Boas had the pleasure of beating them 7-2 over two legs in the Europa League last season with Porto.
Currently bottom of the group, having failed to score against either Valencia or Bayer Leverkusen so far, Genk have also lost three successive domestic games and lie ninth in the Belgian league. Chelsea, on the other hand, go into tonight’s game after a win against Everton at the weekend which left us 3 points behind the current Premier League leaders.
MANAGER’S VIEW
Going into tonight’s game against Genk, Andre Villas-Boas insists “We cannot allow ourselves to relax against Genk but that is what can happen in a game which everyone expects you to win. Our group is still very open so we have to concentrate on taking six points from our next two games against Genk to put us in a good position to qualify for the next round. We were 10 minutes away from winning our last game away to Valencia and we let them equalise and now anything can happen in this group.”
Whilst on tonight’s opponents, AVB says “Their league is not going so well for them and they are still getting used to playing with their new manager. But they still have good individual talent and they are a good team. I played them last season with Porto and won 3-0 away and 4-2 at home. But the results do not reflect the games. We cannot take it easy against Genk. We have to focus on the job in hand.”
SQUAD NEWS
For Chelsea, Michael Essien (knee) remains a long term absentee and is joined on the sidelines by Ramires who sustained a knee injury against Everton at the weekend. David Luiz could return after being rested at the weekend and Fernando Torres is available despite his recent domestic absence following his red card.
Genk will be without Jose Nadson,Torben Joneleit, Jelle Vossen and Jeroen Simaeys through injury.
TEAM
CHELSEA (From): Cech, Ivanovic, Bosingwa, Alex, Ferreira, Terry, Luiz, Cole, McEachran, Mikel, Romeu, Lampard, Meireles, Mata, Malouda, Torres, Drogba, Anelka, Sturridge, Kalou, Turnbull.
PREDICTION
Genk haven’t scored in the Champions League yet and have managed just two goals from their last four domestically. Chelsea meanwhile, haven’t lost a Champions League group stage game at Stamford Bridge since 2003 (24 games). On current form, we’ve won our last three games and tonight’s opponents are struggling around the middle of the Belgian league. So basically, if we don’t get a win tonight, we need shooting.
Blue is the colour
