Chelsea host Schalke 04 at Stamford Bridge as the Blues look to put the demoralizing loss against Newcastle United behind them and escape the dreaded “November Curse”.
DATE & TIME: November 6, 2013 at 14:45 EDT; November 6, 2013 at 19:45 GMT; Novmeber 6, 2013 at 20:45 BST; November 6, 2013 at 20:45 WAT; November 6, 2013 at 21:45 CAT; November 6, 2013 at 22:45 EAT; November 7, 2013 at 01:15 IST.
VENUE: Stamford Bridge, London, United Kingdom.
TV/STREAMING NEWS: The match will be telecast live on ESPN3 in Australia, Sky Sport 1/2/3/HD in Austria, SuperSport 6 in African sub-continent, Sportsnet World in Canada, Fox Sports 2 in Colombia, Al Jazeera Sport HD2 in Egypt, Sky Sport 1/1 HD/2/2 HD/3 in Germany, Ten Action in India, Sky Calcio 5 in Italy, Sukachan 5 in Japan, Sport 1 Live in Netherlands, C + Liga De Campeones 5/HD in Spain, Al Jazeera Sport HD2 in UAE, Sky Sports 2/HD in UK and Fox Soccer Plus in USA.
Chelsea TV will stream the audio of the game live. It is also available on Ten Sports Live in India & Indian sub-continent, Sky Go UK in UK and Fox Soccer 2 Go in USA.
CHELSEA FC SQUAD NEWS: Marco van Ginkel(cruciate ligament), Fernando Torres(muscular injury) and Ryan Bertrand are unavailable for tomorrow’s game.
Predicted Staring XI: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Cole, Mikel, Ramires, Schuerrle, Oscar, Willian, Eto’o.
SCHALKE 04 SQUAD NEWS: Schalke are missing a number of their key first-team players due to injuries, namely, Klass-Jan Huntelaar, Chinedu Obasi. Jefferson Farfan is doubtful as well. Kyriakos Papadopoulos has returned to training & also played 90 minutes for Schalke’s reserves, but might not start.
Predicted Starting XI: Hildebrand, Uchida, Santana, Howedes, Fuchs, Aogo, Neustadter, Boateng, Meyer, Draxler, Slazai.
REFEREE: Svein Oddver Moen(Norway).
TACTICAL OVERVIEW: Schalke 04 play a 4-2-3-1 formation similar to the Blues. They line-up with two banks of four while on the defensive and mostly direct their counter through their wing-backs while transitioning to attack. As usual, Sherry has discussed Schalke’s formation & tactics in his scouting report. In absence of Huntelaar, Draxler has to be the player Chelsea has to look out for. Schalke’s primary attacking threat, Draxler’s abilities with the ball are well-renowned and Ivanovic must keep a check on the German. Schalke were undone by Chelsea’s counter-attacks time & again in Germany, so how they line up will be interesting to see.
FUN TRIVIA:.
- Chelsea’s overall record against Bundesliga opponents is W8 D4 L4.
- If Chelsea win their game against Schalke, it will be their 100th win in all UEFA competitions.
- The 3-0 loss to Chelsea on matchday three was Schalke’s worst at home in the UEFA Champions League.
IN A NUTSHELL: Chelsea will confirm their qualification to the knock-outs with a win. However, a loss might place the Blues in a precarious position with two matchdays to go. Chelsea have already lost at home in this season’s Champions League and Mourinho will prefer the boys bounce-back from the disappointing loss against Newcastle to put the rest of November on course.
