Valencia v Chelsea (RTE 2/KO 19.45)

Johner

V

Match day two see Juan Mata make an early return to Spain as his new side Chelsea face his old team Valencia. Chelsea are unbeaten in their four encounters with Valencia (two wins, two draws) having met in the Champions League quarter-finals in April 2007 as well as the group stages in 2007/08.

Chelsea will be confident heading into the game having won both of their trips to the Mestalla, each time thanks to a 2-1 score line not to mention not losing in their last six trips to Spain while Valencia European home woes has seen them win only two of their last nine Champions League games at the Mestalla.

Andre Villas-Boas must decide whether to recall Frank Lampard after leaving the England midfielder on the bench for the last games while Ramires is also pushing for a starting place after missing the clash with Bayern Leverkusen through suspension.

Daniel Sturridge is expected to be fit after a knee injury while Romelu Lukaku is ineligible however Alex, Paulo Ferreira and Josh McEachran will not feature as they were not part of the squad that travelled to Spain.

Valencia meanwhile could be without long-serving midfielder David Albelda who is rated as doubtful with a back injury sustained in the 2-2 draw against Barcelona last week while Mehmet Topal is definitely out with a shoulder injury.

Valencia key man: In form striker Roberto Soldado, has scored five goals in five league games this season, will start as a lone forward for Valencia

Chelsea key man: Fernando Torres, the former Liverpool striker has dominated headlines in recent weeks for misses and indiscipline however his steadily improving form has gone largely unnoticed and with 3 assists and 2 goals in his last three games the striker is looking back to his best.

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

Torres will definitely start I would think. I also expect Lampard to start.

GavRedKing

Johner wrote: »

V



Torres will definitely start I would think. I also expect Lampard to start.

Saved my blushes of starting and fcuking a thread up. :pac:

I hope AVB goes with

Cech
Bosingwa Ivanovic JT Cole

Ramires Meirles Lamps

Mata Torres Anelka

Fowler87

Soldado hat trick ftw;)

steelcityblues

Is Mathieu playing?

Little gem of a player.

thebison

RTE showing a Chelsea game :O :O Maybe pigs will fly.....

Anyways should be a cracker...toughest game of the group for Chelsea.

Hopefully Torres bangs in a goal or 2 while managing not to do something stupid!

Johner

Good memories of the Mestalla for us. A couple of good wins there, will never forget Essiens goal to send us through to the semis there.

MUSEIST

Will be a very tough game for chelsea. I would take a draw now tbh but I have a sneaking suspicion we might grad a win here. Torres to score 2 goals and an own goal.

Johner

Draw would be a good result, it's our toughest game of the group and if we get a draw we should top the group imo.

GavRedKing

Fowler87 wrote: »

Soldado hat trick ftw;)

Hopefully, but not before Torres gets 4 and gets sent off.

I'm going to say a Chelsea victory by 2 goals.

pistolpetes11

Really fancy us tonight ,

I think we could nip it 1-2,

Hopefully Torres has a blinder and Mata has a good night , any word on the team line ups yet ?

Kev_ps3

c'mon valencia:cool:

Soby

Not to sure about this one tonight.There a tough team at home.Would be happy with a draw

Johner

chelseayouth Chelsea Youth
Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, David Luiz, Terry, Cole, Mikel, Ramires, Lampard, Malouda, Mata, Torres

Johner

chelseayouth Chelsea Youth
Chelsea subs: Turnbull, Ivanovic, Romeu, Meireles, Drogba, Kalou, Anelka.

FYG

Really looking forward to this game tonight.

thebison

hoping lamps proves the critics wrong. Looking forward to seeing Torres!

mike65

Alves, Miguel, Rami, Víctor Ruiz, Jordi Alba, Albelda, Éver; Pablo, Canales, Mathieu and Soldado.

Any team that can keep Barca to a draw should be competitive esp with the old and slow Lampard in the middle

thebison

When is rte 2 coverage starting?

thebison

When is rte 2 coverage starting?

Masked Man

7:30

mike65

7.30

TheRedDevil10

half

Masked Man

Really wish Ivanovic was right back. Hope Bos doesn't get caught out defensively.

Johner

Torres 1st goalscorer.

Caveman1

Lampard is a model to score 1st tonight, hoping he does well tonight

thebison

Luiz is playing......something crazy will go down tonight.

GavRedKing

Here we go......

Raskolnikov

Personally, I would have left Lampard on the bench. Chelsea look a better team without him.

Blatter

Johner wrote: »

Torres 1st goalscorer.

I have this backed. I'm counting on him.

GavRedKing

Torres should have done better...

Caveman1

That was a peno, the defender was knowhere near the ball

GavRedKing

Caveman1 wrote: »

That was a peno, the defender was knowhere near the ball

Would have been harsh.

GavRedKing

Theres some great pressing out there from us.

Gonzovision

F*ck off Malouda... Useless

Caveman1

gavredking wrote: »

Would have been harsh.

Probably so but the defender wasn't anywhere near the ball, anyway we've started very well let's hope we keep it up

homer simpson

gonzovision wrote: »

F*ck off Malouda... Useless

Terrible so far isn't he, every time he gets the ball its gives it away needlessly!

GavRedKing

Caveman1 wrote: »

gavredking wrote: »

Would have been harsh.

Probably so but the defender wasn't anywhere near the ball, anyway we've started very well let's hope we keep it up

Would have been soft though. Valencia look shaky.

GavRedKing

Some sloppy play there could have cost both teams.

GavRedKing

Great run by ramires could have been a red.

Caveman1

Ramires is some player what an engine

Gonzovision

Last man surely, yer man was never getting across

homer simpson

Naughty boy, could so easily have been red.

GavRedKing

Good start so far hopefully the first goal isnt far away.

Caveman1

Malouda has been awful so far, he seems like he's not interested

GavRedKing

Caveman1 wrote: »

Malouda has been awful so far, he seems like he's not interested

He should have played the ball to luiz down the left a min ago

homer simpson

Caveman1 wrote: »

Malouda has been awful so far, he seems like he's not interested

It's a strange one, everyone watching the games see's he isn't playing well. He must be training like a demon to keep getting his name on the teamsheet.

GavRedKing

Not even ramires could catch the ball from luiz ha. :pac:

GavRedKing

Luiz was caught very high up the pitch.

Gonzovision

Wish we had an attacking replacement for Bosingwa......wasteful

GavRedKing

gonzovision wrote: »

Wish we had an attacking replacement for Bosingwa......wasteful

Luiz and play ivanovic cb.

Caveman1

I'd like to see Anelka come on for malouda at half time, he'll hold on to the ball a lot better and there's more chance he'll pass it too