Looking ahead to the champions league match against FC Nordsjælland

Opponent: FC Nordsjælland

Competition: UEFA Champions League

Venue : Farum Park, Farum Denmark





Chelsea play current Danish champions FC Nordsjælland at Farum park in their second champions league group stage encounter. The newbies to the competition is not really favored to win against the current European Champions but you never know as this could very well be a tricky encounter. After the 2-2 draw against Juventus, this is one match that we cannot afford to lose.

FC Nordsjælland lost 2-0 to Shakthar Donetsk in the opening match at Ukraine. FC Nordsjælland are very much a new side to the champions league as none of its players have been part of a champions league squad before but then a home crowd might very well inspire them to something great and this is one thing Chelsea must be wary about.

i don't think Di Matteo will tinker much with the formation for the match as the trio of Hazard, Mata and Oscar will start behind the lone striker Torres. He might want to field Sturridge in the line up ahead of Torres to give the Spaniard a break, but since  Sturridge isn't a 100 per cent fit, Torres will again start upfront. Also with Torres looking good against Arsenal, it won't be advisable to not start him.

I think that Di Matteo should stick with Ramires in the central midfield area in place of Lampard. Lampard cannot be expected to start every game and probably should accept the role like the way Ryan Giggs plays at Manchester United. Fielding Ramires in the central midfield area again will only enhance his capability in the role and since we are really short of options here, Ramires should be molded into a good defensive midfielder too. The tireless Ramires will obviously be able to support the attack as well, so we will not be losing his energy in the attacking third.

After his exploits against Juventus, one player who is sure to be in the starting line up is Oscar. Hazard and Mata are now certainties for the other two positions. I would really like to see Marin and Moses get a chance against  FC Nordsjælland. If we are leading by a couple of goals by half time, I can see these two coming in early from the bench. I would also replace Mikel with Romeu and see how the pairing of Romeu and Ramires works. This might well be our best central midfield pairing and it is worth a try.

My lineup would be

Cech

Ivanovic      Terry                Cahill            Cole

Ramires        Romeu

Oscar                 Mata             Hazard

Torres

Subs : Moses for Oscar, Marin for Hazard and Azpilicueta for Ivanovic