Match Preview: Chelsea FC v Schalke 04

Chelsea FC kicks off their 2014 Champions League season against German side Schalke 04 at Stamford Bridge tomorrow. The German side finished 3rd in the Bundesliga last season, behind Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, while Chelsea finished 3rd behind Manchester City and Liverpool.

Despite being a two time winner and taking Chelsea to the semifinals of the Champions League last season, Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho is primarily focused on qualifying for the knockout round.

"‘In this moment I only think about not playing in the Europa League. I want my club to succeed in the group phase. It would be very bad for the level of the group to go to the Europa League.”"

Apart from Schalke, Chelsea were drawn into Group G with Slovenia side NK Maribor who knocked out Scottish champions Celtic to reach the Group Stage, and Sporting Lisbon of Portugal.

Chelsea FC are obviously the favorites to win this group, but cannot take the competition lightly. Schalke and Sporting have talented players that could take advantage of mistakes, and Maribor is something of an unknown commodity, making it difficult to plan against them.

However with all that said, I’m predicting Chelsea to get the group matches started with a bang and defeat Schalke at Stamford Bridge.

Team News:
Didier Drogba, our own Champions League hero, returned to training with the squad and could feature against the German side. Despite banging in goals left and right, I get a feeling we may see a different striker to start against Schalke, and I think Loic Remy will get the nod to build off his debut against Swansea City. Schurrle had a relatively poor game against Swansea, and so we may see Willian start in his stead, or even Ramires. If Ramires starts, I would look to see Chelsea in the 4-3-3 we finished with against Swansea, with Ramires reprising his role of midfield destroyer a la Michael Essien in his prime.

Predicted Chelsea FC Starting XI
———————Courtois——————-
Azpilicueta—-Cahill—-JT———Ivanovic
—————-Matic—–Fabregas———–
Willian———-Oscar————Hazard–
———————Remy———————–

Predicted Result:
Chelsea FC 3-1 Schalke 04
I believe the Blues get off to another flying start and win running away with it at Stamford Bridge.

UTC!

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