Chelsea V Schalke 04, Champions League Group B. Sky One 7:45pm.

retired_tripaige · 10-24-2007, 05:14 PM

also on sky one HD and sky sports interactive.

Quote:

Chelsea are again without injured defenders John Terry (knee) and Ashley Cole (ankle).

Striker Didier Drogba is expected to start despite his troublesome knee injury while left-back Wayne Bridge is also available.

Schalke have a host of injuries and were only able to name a squad of 17 for their weekend league game.

Influential midfielder Christian Pander is among those missing, along with Halil Altintop and Mesut Ozil.

Chelsea (from): Cech, Cudicini, Hilario, Ferreira, Belletti, Alex, Ben-Haim, Lampard, Obi, Essien, Bridge, J Cole, Carvalho, Makelele, Sidwell, Malouda, Drogba, Shevchenko, Pizarro, Kalou, Wright-Phillips.

Chelsea boss Avram Grant:
"I have vision of how I think Chelsea need to play; entertaining football and results.
"First we want to win, but the way of winning is also important.

"We cannot play the best every 90 minutes but this is our goal; to play good football and win games. That is what I want to see on Wednesday."

BIG MATCH STATS

Head-to-heads

Chelsea and Schalke 04 have never met in any European Cup competition.

Chelsea are unbeaten in five home matches against German opposition (four wins, one draw); Schalke have never won on English soil.

European history

This is Schalke's third Champions League season. In 2001-02 and 2005-06 they were eliminated in the group phase.

Chelsea have always survived the group phase in their five CL participations.

Current European form

Chelsea are unbeaten for seven CL home matches, recording five wins and two draws. Their last CL defeat at Stamford Bridge dates back to 22 February 2006, when they were beaten 1-2 by Barcelona.

Two weeks ago, Schalke posted their second CL away win, beating Rosenborg 2-0 in Trondheim. Their only previous victory in seven CL away matches came six years ago, on 16 October 2001 at RCD Mallorca (0-4).

Player and disciplinary info

Andriy Shevchenko is Chelsea's most seasoned squad member, having featured in 90 CL matches. He is also the leading career marksman in the Chelsea squad, having netted 47 times in the Champions League (four as a Chelsea player). Frank Lampard's 43 CL appearances for Chelsea is a club record.

If he plays, Claudio Pizarro will be making his 50th career CL appearance.

Shaun Wright-Phillips will turn 26 the day after this match.

Only three players have been on the field for every minute of Chelsea's CL campaign this season. They are Petr Cech, Claude Makelele and John Terry.

Schalke's most experienced CL player is Peter Lovenkrands, who has made 17 CL appearances. Kevin Kuranyi is their leading career marksman, having netted six times in the Champions League.

Other miscellaneous facts

On Saturday, Chelsea won 0-2 at Middlesbrough, but are only seventh in the Premier League, seven points off the pace.

Meanwhile, Schalke stumbled to a 1-1 draw at Hansa Rostock, and are in fifth place in the Bundesliga table, trailing leaders Bayern Munich by 26 points.

so with bridge available from his domestic ban, I'd like to see:

cech, belletti, carvalho, alex, bridge, mikel, essien, lampard, malouda, cole, drogba.

carlo, ben-haim, makelele, sidwell, pizarro, kalou, wright-philips.

I reckon maka will probably start though.

I'm optimistic and predict 3-0 chelsea. drogba, alex and mikel.

retired_kris10nicole · 10-24-2007, 07:31 PM

I wonder if the level of interest shown in this thread will be reflected in the attendance?

retired_jennifer89889 · 10-24-2007, 07:33 PM

Quote:

trailing leaders Bayern Munich by 26 points.

So far behind this early but still 5th? Do Bayern have a 100% win record or something?

(This doesn't count as interest because it's not about the match btw.

retired_princess160 · 10-24-2007, 07:37 PM

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> GP W D L G P1.Bayern München 10 8 2 0 27-4 26 2.Werder Bremen 10 6 2 2 24-16 20 3.Hamburger SV 10 6 2 2 16-8 20 4.Karlsruhe 10 6 1 3 13-11 19 5.Schalke 04 10 4 5 1 16-9 17 6.Hannover 96 10 5 2 3 15-15 17 7.Leverkusen 10 4 3 3 14-8 15 8.Frankfurt 10 4 3 3 12-14 15 9.Wolfsburg 10 3 4 3 15-15 13 10.Hertha Berlin 10 4 1 5 13-15 13 11.Dortmund 10 4 1 5 16-19 13 12.Bielefeld 10 3 2 5 12-22 11 13.Hansa Rostock 10 3 1 6 11-15 10 14.VfB Stuttgart 10 3 1 6 11-18 10 15.FC Nürnberg 10 2 3 5 14-17 9 ----------------------------------16.Bochum 10 2 3 5 13-17 9 17.Duisburg 10 3 0 7 12-17 9 18.Cottbus 10 0 4 6 6-20 4 </pre>

There are no teams trailing by 26 points. Poor English sensationalist reporting again.