Chelsea vs Shakthar Donetsk Preview

Competition: UEFA Champions League
Opponent : Shakthar Donetsk(Ukraine)
Venue: Stamford Bridge,London

Chelsea face off with Ukrainian champions Shakthar Donetsk in the Champions league today in what is a must win game for the Blues. Chelsea is in second position in the group with a win against Nordjaelland and a draw against Juventus. The 2-1 reverse against Shakthar away means that the Blues have to win the remaining home games and probably will need a point from Turin to progress to the next stage.

Juan Mata seems to have recovered from the injury that kept him out of the Swansea match and this is really good news for the Blues. Without Mata in the lineup, Chelsea seemed to be struggling to create chances, even with the likes of Hazard and Oscar in the team. But left back Ashley Cole will sit out of the game with injury along with Frank Lampard. John Terry returns to the side which is good news considering the fact that the defense gave away 10 goals in the 4 matches without him.

Probable team for the game:

Cech

Cahill                        Terry

Ivanovic                                                  Bertrand

Ramires                  Mikel

Mata                 Oscar          Hazard

     Torres

Shakthar are a strong attacking unit and they have a 100% record in the Ukranian league after 13 games with a 12 point lead already. They are scoring goals for fun and the Blues were quite lucky not to have conceded more against Shakthar in the previous game. The Blues will have to take their chances and also cope against the counter attacks from Shakthar. Hopefully Di Matteo won't try to protect a single goal lead as in the Swansea game. Torres has been off color in the recent games and needs to step up. The Spanish striker was awarded the Golden boot award for his goals in Euro 2012 held at Ukraine, but has lost form after starting well this season.Chelsea cannot afford their star striker to be off-color in this must win game and hopefully Torres will come good. Mikel has been found wanting in the champions league matches this season,even though he has performed well in the league. Mistakes like the one against Juventus has to be avoided.

So what to you think the score will be tonight?