Chelsea Vs Valencia
After an imposing revenge against Rosenborg with 4-0, Chelsea secured a place in knockout stage two weeks ago. This is their fifth time in six attempts to reach the knockout stage successfully. Now Chelsea is sitting on the top of group B, 4 points ahead of second place team-Rosenborg, so they will compete with Valencia without pressure. The only motivation for Chelsea in this match is to defend their outstanding home record in the group stage of UEFA Champions League, only lost one match in last 23 UEFA Champions League matches and conceded in only four of the last. After the weekend victory against Sunderland with 2-0, Chelsea has gained the consecutive 4 wins, taken over Liverpool to remain in the third place. The star forward Drogba might be absent from this match due to undergoing surgery, who scored two goals in the last group match.
Valencia bowed out of contention for the knockout stage following a 0-0 draw against Schalke 04, ending their three consecutive defeats but left them at the foot of group with four points in five games. A win at Stamford Bridge will enable them to get a place in the UEFA Cup as long as Schalke could not beat Rosenborg at home. However Valencia are not in the good form recently, could not obtain a win in the recent 4 matches after a draw with Osasuna last weekend. And the result of their recent 6 matches is 1W-2D-3L. The midfielder Albelda is banned for the match due to his red card.
Pick: Chelsea (-0.75)
Chelsea manager Avram Grant is ready to field a below-strength team against Valencia
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chelsea look so resilient lately and valencia look awful both in this competition and la liga. Losing both home and away to rosenberg says it all.
Chelsea have already topped their groups so do not need to win their matches. They might well win them anyway but they have less motivation than normal.