MSK Zilina v Chelsea - (SS2/Setanta KO 7.45pm)

Johner

V

From the BBC,

Chelsea took the unusual step of naming their side to face Slovakian champions Zilina 24 hours ahead of time.

Captain John Terry has recovered from a rib injury to take his place, while striker Daniel Sturridge is handed a start with Didier Drogba suspended.

Frank Lampard (hernia) misses out and Ashley Cole has been rested.

Slovakian champions Zilina have made it through three qualifying rounds to reach the group stage and their stadium has a capacity of just 12,000.

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti insists his side will adopt a positive approach throughout their campaign.

"We score a lot of goals, we started well this season but you have to pay attention to every game," the Italian said.

"We are here to win obviously because we want to start this season well. Our aim is to win this group but it will not be easy.

"Every team has a quality and Zilina can show fantastic motivation because for them it is an important game against Chelsea and we have to pay attention to this."

Goalkeeper Petr Cech says the Blues, who have won their first four Premier League games this season, will not be taking them lightly.

"Zilina had to go through qualification and the fact they have made it into the group stages shows their quality," said Cech. "Underestimating any team in the Champions League can only damage you.

606: DEBATE
I presume this means Zhirkov will play instead of Ash. Ramires will probably keep his place

CFCLampsy

"Matches against Zilina will certainly have a special atmosphere. But at the moment I am most satisfied with our winning streak and with the fact we have been doing well as a team."

Last year Chelsea were knocked out of the last 16 by eventual tournament winners Inter Milan, having been beaten semi-finalists in 2009 and 2007, and finished runners-up to Manchester United in 2008.

But Cech said having managed to win the double of Premier League and FA Cup last season, the team were going into this season's European campaign with a real sense of belief.

"We all believe that this time is going to be the breakthrough," he said.

"I believe that because of the work I can see every day at the training ground, starting with the manager and finishing with all the people working for the club.

"We always have the quality in the team and we have a great team spirit. That is the start and now we need to have the good performances on the pitch.

"We always have a good start. We know we have what it takes."

Zilina manager Pavel Hapal says they will not lie down against their more illustrious opponents and will try to win the game in front of their own fans.

"It's a great challenge for me and I'm really looking forward to it. On the other hand, we won't sell ourselves short," he said. "We want to show our supporters quality football and we'd like to get some points from our meeting with Chelsea.

"We respect our opponents; they're a really big club. Chelsea are obviously superior to us, but football is about 11 players playing against 11 players and we want to walk off with our heads high after the match."

The other two teams in Group F, Marseille and Spartak Moscow, face each other at the Stade Velodrome.

Chelsea team: Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Alex, Zhirkov, Essien, Benayoun, Mikel, Sturridge, Malouda, Anelka. Subs (from): Turnbull, Hilario, Ferreira, Ramires, Kalou, Kakuta, Van Aanholt, Bruma.

1 or 2 nil to the blues.

Nalz

Yep I'll go for 1-0 Chelsea

is this not on rte 2?

Johner

Nah think the Arsenal match is on RTE.

Panthro

Pretty strong line up there, heres hoping Yuri and Daniel have good games. And Kakuta comes off the bench and shows some skillz:)

The_Hustler

A few people were telling me this was kicking off around 6. Where did that idea come from?

smuckers

Great to see Josh Mceachran on bench hope he co0mes on a superb player

I'm going for 3-0

3hn2givr7mx1sc

The_Hustler wrote: »

A few people were telling me this was kicking off around 6. Where did that idea come from?

Coverage started on SS2 at 6.

And people are idiots.:P

DazMarz

I'm gonna say 2-0 to Chelsea...

But then again, I had Man United to win by 3 or more last night!!! Nothin certain in this game!

Johner

Essien.

ColmDawson

Flicked over to the Real Madrid match for a minute and missed the goal. :mad:

Johner

Great pass, great finish by Anelka. 2-0

ColmDawson

Great finish but dreadful goalkeeping!

Johner

True, this lot are shocking.

Johner

3-0, these really are woeful.

Mister men

Chelsea look unstoppable this season. Playing some incredible stuff. If Essien keeps playing like this he's defo going to get player of the year.

timetogetfit

Is essien playing farther forward than usual?

Johner

timetogetfit wrote: »

Is essien playing farther forward than usual?

Been playing there all season, Mikel is showing he is good enough to start every game so far this season so it is allowing Essien to play further forward.

timetogetfit

Johner wrote: »

Been playing there all season, Mikel is showing he is good enough to start every game so far this season so it is allowing Essien to play further forward.

so where is lampard playing?

Johner

Cech you donkey!

growler

comedy , wtf is cech at with these crosses ?

the_monkey

any decent streams for this ?

Johner

timetogetfit wrote: »

so where is lampard playing?

Lampard is injured. But when he was playing it was with Essien in midfield with Mikel in the holding position.

growler

the_monkey wrote: »

any decent streams for this ?

http://atdhe.net/index.html

the_monkey

jesus christ, ever since i started watching this game it's turned into a pile of shiite ...

the_monkey

garbage

Johner

Here comes young Josh.

SlipperyPeople

hope he gets a bit of the ball in the last ten mins

SlipperyPeople

bleedin peno !!

the_monkey

what a pile of crap .... really ...

growler

chelsea are just cruising, not even getting forward in any numbers, nice relaxed start to the campaign

the_monkey

So is this poxy ref from Slovakia or what ?

the_monkey

I'm sick of this fuccking persecution of Chelsea in Europe ... think ill ignore the rest of the comp.

TangyZizzle

Good God, I had to turn it off early. Four goals.. lovely, but so boring. Anyone hear the voice leading the Zilina chants? Sounds like he's no older than 12.

Johner

Job done.

Gonzovision

Job done, happy enough with that. Wasn't a great second half performance but 4-1, ye can't complain. Would have taken 1 or 2 before the match.

The_Hustler

If you listen to the monkey you'd swear we lost 4-1

Gonzovision

Who'd listen to the monkey.........:P

Panthro

nice tidy lil opening game for us, bar the sloppy goal conceded.
Malouda and Anelka linked up very nicely in the first half, Essien..im running out of words to compliment him with. Great to see Daniel get on the score sheet, and to see the young guns get a run out.
Looking pretty sound, happy days.:D

DazMarz

Sweet stuff. Should have won by more, pity to concede. Anelka was immense, Benayoun was commanding and the kids that got a run showed promise. Very much a positive game. Almost no negatives to speak of. Great stuff.

the_monkey

TangyZizzle wrote: »

Good God, I had to turn it off early. Four goals.. lovely, but so boring. Anyone hear the voice leading the Zilina chants? Sounds like he's no older than 12.

True, sounded like a little psycho....

smuckers

Ivan didn't look fit to me and would have liked Kakuta to be more direct running with the ball.
Yossi had a good game!

CorkMan

Fair dues to the Chelsea supporters who travelled. They can get a suck and f*** for €30 while they are out there :P

the_monkey

CorkMan wrote: »

Fair dues to the Chelsea supporters who travelled. They can get a suck and f*** for €30 while they are out there :P

really ? that cheap ?


Im heading :P