Chelsea vs Valencia - Match Preview

With Chelsea€™s Champions League status hanging in the balance, Andre Villas-Boas will be hoping his side can avoid the complicated rules of qualification by recording a victory against Valencia tonight. With Chelsea level on points with tonight€™s opponents and just one point behind group leaders Bayer Leverkusen, there are a number of rules that could decide the fate of the three teams. Only a win can guarantee Chelsea€™s progress in the tournament, but a 0-0 draw would also be enough thanks to their 1-1 draw with Valencia at the Mestalla. However, assuming Leverkusen manage at least a point away at Genk, any score draw for Chelsea would see them eliminated due to Valencia€™s superior goal difference. If Leverkusen suffer a surprise defeat in Belgium, Chelsea would still be knocked out even if they draw with Valencia. All three sides would be level on nine points but the London club have the worst record in games between the three teams. If you are finding all this a little mind boggling then you can see why Villas-Boas will want to avoid such technicalities by beating the Spanish side this evening. The young manager will have been buoyed by his side€™s impressive attacking display and 3-0 victory over Newcastle at the weekend. However, he will surely still be concerned by the defensive frailties shown by his team and David Luiz in particular, who was extremely lucky not to see red in the North East. It is those defensive issues that have seen Chelsea throw away winning positions in all three of their away fixtures in the Champions League this season. Villas-Boas has himself acknowledged that his side can only blame themselves for their current position. He said: €œDuring this campaign of five games, we've done pretty well in terms of performances, but the small details have gone away from us in the last couple of minutes, at Valencia and Leverkusen.€

Team News

In terms of team selection it will be interesting to see who the Portuguese goes with up front. It is likely that Daniel Sturridge and Juan Mata will play in the wide positions, as both were excellent on Saturday. Didier Drogba scored the opening goal against Newcastle as well as in their last Champions League match and should be favourite to play, although Villas-Boas has started Fernando Torres in all but one of their games in the competition this year. Jose Bosingwa picked up an injury in training so Branislav Ivanovic should begin the game at right back, while Josh McEachran and Michael Essien are still injured. Whoever Chelsea€™s manager decides to play he will need to see an attacking performance of at least the same vigour that his team showed at the weekend, while the defence will have to be on top of their game to contain Valenica€™s wealth of attacking talent. Roberto Soldado is likely to be the danger man again and it was his late penalty that salvaged a draw for Valencia against Chelsea in Spain. He was rested at the weekend by Unai Emery so should be a certain starter. Argentine midfielder Ever Banega and defender Victor Ruiz are doubts for the Spanish side.

Line-ups from;

Chelsea (from): Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Alex, Cole, Luiz, Mikel, Romeu, Ramires, Lampard, Mata, Malouda, Meireles, Torres, Drogba, Kalou, Sturridge, Lukaku, Turnbull.