Chelsea travel to Turin knowing that they cannot afford to lose to Juventus.
Roberto
Di Matteo has rotated the squad in recent weeks, with an eye on this
crucial Champions League match.
Tuesday's result will be critical as to
whether those changes—to a Blues side that was in sensational form at
the time—will have been worth it.
Resting Oscar,
Ramires and Juan Mata, as well as not risking Ashley Cole against West
Bromwich Albion cost them three points and deepened the hole Chelsea have dug themselves in recent weeks.
Juventus have no such worries, despite a frustrating 0-0 draw against an extremely negative
Lazio at the weekend. A four point cushion has allowed the
Bianconeri
to relax somewhat and certainly go for the jugular against Chelsea,
even if it would be detrimental to Sunday's match against Milan.
Both sides fully expect
Shakhtar to defeat Group E's whipping boys,
Nordsjaelland, which would move the Ukrainians onto 10 points. Chelsea currently have seven points, while the Old Lady are a point back.
Defeat for Di Matteo's men would put the group out of their control, due to an inferior head-to-head against both
Shakhtar and
Juve.
In fact, a half-arranged draw between the sides in the final match
would put Chelsea out, no matter what the Blues manage to do at home to
the Danish champions.
Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images
Juventus team news
The
Bianconeri enter the game with an almost perfect bill of health, with Antonio
Conte naming a 25-man squad. This included Mirko
Vucinic, who having only returned from injury last week, picked up a bout of flu.
If the Montenegrin cannot pull through, Sebastian
Giovinco and Fabio
Quagliarella will likely line up in attack.
The only other contention for
Conte would be the right-midfield spot. While Mauricio
Isla has been superb since returning from a serious knee injury—starting the last three matches—Stephan
Lichtsteiner could return to the starting lineup.
Probable lineup: Gianluigi Buffon; Leonardo
Bonucci, Andrea
Barzagli, Giorgio
Chiellini; Stephan
Lichtsteiner, Claudio
Marchisio, Andrea
Pirlo, Arturo Vidal,
Kwadwo Asamoah;Sebastian
Giovinco, Fabio
Quagliarella.
Chelsea team news
John Terry and Frank Lampard remain the only absentees through injury; although Cole should return, it's not a guarantee.
The main dilemma for Di Matteo is whether to continue with
Azpilicueta at right-back, or to move
Ivanovic back into this role to give the defence more strength and power.
I would imagine that the Serbian will move out to full-back due to the powerful threat of the Ghanaian
Asamoah, who would probably overwhelm the Blues' Spanish full-back.
The
other concern is whether to field a more defensive winger, such as Ryan
Bertrand, which would mean leaving out one of the magical trio,
probably Oscar, due to Mata's influence and Hazard's greater reputation.
Fernando Torres continues to struggle and should probably be left out of the starting lineup, but Daniel
Sturridge is also frustrating, so I feel Di Matteo will begrudgingly maintain El Niño in his 11.
Probable lineup: Petr
Cech, Cesar
Azpilicueta, Gary
Cahill,
Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole;
Ramires, Mikel Jon Obi; Eden Hazard, Juan Mata, Ryan Bertrand; Fernando Torres
Prediction
With
Juventus
knowing that they have to win, I think it is a psychological advantage
in their favor. When you combine the home advantage and a quite
formidable midfield, the
Bianconeri will control this match and edge it by two goals to one.
- BR
