Chelsea vs Olympique de Marseille

[BLionheart 516]

McEachran will start on the bench.

Either Kakuta or Sturridge will start alongside Anelka and Malouda.

i hope that both sturridge and kakuta start giving anelka some needed rest before the arsenal's game ,this will be his 3rd game in less than one week if he starts . not one other player has played the full 90 minutes in the last two games and is more likely than not to play the full 90 minutes against gunners so it's pretty clear that nico needs a rest .

and since this is not a must win game or anything so we can afford to start some youngsters i hope it will be :

cech - ferrera - ivan - terry - a.cole - mikel - essien - zhirkov - malouda - kakuta - sturridge . with McEacheran , bruma and Ramires coming off the bench or hopefully borini

WoooW if this team actually starts we will have 6 lefty players included in our line up

[eldo 868]

Mellis is travelling too.

[Shane 2,275]

Travelling where? To Stamford Bridge?

[We Hate Scouse 10,326]

Travelling where? To Stamford Bridge?

It's along way from Cobham!

[eldo 868]

Travelling where? To Stamford Bridge?

Lol this is embarrassing. Don't know why i was thinking that we are playing in France.

He is travelling to Chelsea bench apparently

[Jose M 140]

Carlo www.chelseafc.com

'For now we have to choose [who else to play] up front. Sure we will start [Florent] Malouda and Anelka but we will have to choose the right position up front.

'It could [Daniel] Sturridge or [Gael] Kakuta, I could put these two players in, they are ready.

'From the beginning, McEachran will go on the bench; he will be ready to go onto the pitch if it is necessary. John Terry will play.'

We all must admit Sturridge has been givin a fair bit of game time recently and hasnt really preformed. I would love to see what Kakuta could do.....

[Badboy 1,526]

I hope kakuta starts because he will add to the potency of anelka along with malouda, both malouda and kakuta can create goals and score goals.

[Footmax 2]

No dude, Rémy is injured, and so for three months (if i remind it well). And i can guarantee it to you, Taiwo is only good against mid-table french team... Against big teams he is a piece of shit and he is always out of place. So don't be worry ^^

Futhermore, this season l'OM has a dreadful starting in championship, they are only eighth...

So IMO, if we do not defeat them by at leat 2-0, it would be a failure.

Don't forget that we have Heinze, Deschamps usually use him against big teams.

Our starting in championship is rather bad, but we're getting better and better with returns from injuries, with two wins in a row, we're fifth, 5 points behind the leader Saint-Etienne (obviously, they're not going to maintain their form...). I believe we're going to win the championship, because we're the best team of France, Lyon are overrated.

Whereas we could have done a better start, Lyon and Bordeaux have done a worse beginning, Lyon is 19th with only 5 points.

Rémy isn't injured, he played against Sochaux, and Taiwo isn't that bad, he's certainly not a "piece of shit".

"They have only 3 players who are a world level : Rémy, Mandanda and Lucho. Their defense is a joke and the other player are quite averages (for french championship i mean)."

Lucho is our best player, he's simply amazing ! But Rémy and Mandanda aren't our only others "world level" players, Gignac is unlucky at the moment, but I'm sure he will score a lot this season ; Valbuena is a French international, and is impressive at the moment ; Cheyrou ; Mbia, Diawara, Taiwo... are good players too.

Mbia-Diawara is a solid defense in Ligue 1, I don't know in Europe, but our defense isn't a joke. At the start of the season, we had to play with our subs because Mbia and Diawara were injured, that's why we had some difficulties in defense in the first matches.

Our weakness is clearly Cissé (our defensive midfielder), he's not bad but we deserve better, and it will be hard for him against Chelsea.

Recently, we have some difficulties to score, we had 25 shoots against Spartak, but we lost... I hope the same thing won't happen against Chelsea.

I hope that your players aren't going to underestimate us, because Liverpool did it 2 years ago, and lost.

It will be difficult, but we can win ! Good luck for tomorrow and sorry for my english !

[Kostas 1,468]

I think Kakuta can do well in Anelka's position.Since Anelka doesn't really have a fixed position on the pitch nowadays Kakuta will have the freedom to dribble and build up play.

Connor Clifford trained with the 1st team today,maybe he'll be on the bench.

[BLionheart 516]

just the fact that kakuta starts will make the game special for me , i love all of our players but man this boy is very pleasing to the eye to watch and i can't wait for him to turn into the player we are all expecting him to be

[Kostas 1,468]

Probable line-up

Cech

Ivanovic --- Alex - Terry© --- A.Cole

Mikel

Essien -- Ramires

Kakuta -- Anelka -- Malouda

Bench: Turnbull, Ferreira, Van Aanholt, Sturridge, Zhirkov, McEachran, J.Mellis/C.Clifford

Those confirmed by CA are bold.

[caesarblues 51]

Here we look at three of the personal duels.:

Nicolas Anelka v Gabriel Heinze

Marseille boss Didier Deschamps swooped for defender Heinze from Real Madrid and his instincts were right as Marseille became French champions. The one-time Manchester United man produced some key performances and will present Nicolas Anelka with a real contest at Stamford Bridge. Heinze is a tough-tackling, no-nonsense defender and Anelka will need all his guile and steel to get the better of his opponent. But while Heinz is a tough defender, he is also a cut above the rest going forward. The Argentinian can provide assists and score goals given the opportunity and has the experience to deal with all the pressure that comes with Champions League games.

John Terry v Andre-Pierre Gignac

The France international is extremely fast off the mark and capable of great skill with the ball at his feet. At 6ft 1in, Gignac has tremendous quality for a player with such a broad physique and Terry will need all his experience and international quality to cope with the 24-year-old. The striker made his name with Toulouse and is playing for the club he supported as a boy. He is now a fully-fledged France international and his eye for goal could cause an upset unless Terry can produce one of his outstanding European performances.

Michael Essien v Lucho Gonzalez

Gonzalez, known as the 'Commander' because of his leadership qualities, is an inspirational midfielder who can play in a variety of positions. He is mainly known as a central midfielder and his personal battle with Essien - 'The Train' - is an enthralling one. Gonzalez also possesses a crisp, fierce shot allied to some superb passing skills and a hardworking ethic that matches Essien's all-action game. The 29-year-old Argentinian international will give Essien a far harder match than the Chelsea man experienced in their last outing against MSK Zilina and the winner of this battle could have a real hand in deciding the outcome of the game itself.

Itv

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Don't forget that we have Heinze, Deschamps usually use him against big teams.

Our starting in championship is rather bad, but we're getting better and better with returns from injuries, with two wins in a row, we're fifth, 5 points behind the leader Saint-Etienne (obviously, they're not going to maintain their form...). I believe we're going to win the championship, because we're the best team of France, Lyon are overrated.

Whereas we could have done a better start, Lyon and Bordeaux have done a worse beginning, Lyon is 19th with only 5 points.

Rémy isn't injured, he played against Sochaux, and Taiwo isn't that bad, he's certainly not a "piece of shit".

"They have only 3 players who are a world level : Rémy, Mandanda and Lucho. Their defense is a joke and the other player are quite averages (for french championship i mean)."

Lucho is our best player, he's simply amazing ! But Rémy and Mandanda aren't our only others "world level" players, Gignac is unlucky at the moment, but I'm sure he will score a lot this season ; Valbuena is a French international, and is impressive at the moment ; Cheyrou ; Mbia, Diawara, Taiwo... are good players too.

Mbia-Diawara is a solid defense in Ligue 1, I don't know in Europe, but our defense isn't a joke. At the start of the season, we had to play with our subs because Mbia and Diawara were injured, that's why we had some difficulties in defense in the first matches.

Our weakness is clearly Cissé (our defensive midfielder), he's not bad but we deserve better, and it will be hard for him against Chelsea.

Recently, we have some difficulties to score, we had 25 shoots against Spartak, but we lost... I hope the same thing won't happen against Chelsea.

I hope that your players aren't going to underestimate us, because Liverpool did it 2 years ago, and lost.

It will be difficult, but we can win ! Good luck for tomorrow and sorry for my english !

Bienvenue á TalkChelsea! Welcome, nice to see opposition fans on here! Your English is excellent, by the way.

[Badboy 1,526]

They have jordan ayew. I think he has the potential to become something special in the future. He is a very very tricky player !

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Chelsea have never lost a home Champions League match against a French side, winning two and drawing two.

Chelsea played Marseille in the 1999-2000 Champions League with both games ending 1-0 to the home side.

Inter's win at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League last 16 back in March ended a run of 21 games without defeat at home for the Blues.

Marseille have played four Champions League matches in England and all of them have been decided by a one-goal margin - the last three ending 1-0. Their only win in England was back in October 2007 when Mathieu Valbuena scored the only goal of the game at Anfield.

Chelsea have lost none of their last 20 Champions League group Stage matches at home since defeat to Besiktas in October 2003.

Chelsea have kept 14 clean sheets in their last 17 Champions League Group Stage matches at Stamford Bridge.

Marseille have lost 13 and won just two of their last 17 Champions League Group Stage matches away from home.

The French side posted the best crossing accuracy in the opening set of matches finding a team-mate with 39% of their crosses.

[EskWeston 696]

I think Kakuta can do well in Anelka's position.Since Anelka doesn't really have a fixed position on the pitch nowadays Kakuta will have the freedom to dribble and build up play.

Connor Clifford trained with the 1st team today,maybe he'll be on the bench.

Connor Clifford did train with the first team but has been unwell, didn't play in the reserves yesterday because of that and most certainly will not be involved tonight.

Would like for Kakuta to get a start in this game, either in the midfield replacing Ramires or on the wing.

[Styles 9,790]

I've heard Lucho Gonzales is not in the squad? Great news because he is a good player.

[Term-X 7,891]

Looking forward to the game, hopefully we will have some good quality streams.

Shame itv are only showing the united-valencia game though.

[5354 204]

How I hope Zhrikov can start. I think he provided some pace and speed for the game against City. He was looking good.

[Shane 2,275]

Looking forward to this game, Think we'll win easy, Hope Kakuta starts and McEachran gets 20+ minutes.