Cech Confident of Champions League Football Next Year, as Chelsea Visit City

Ahead of Chelsea's crucial Premier League game against Manchester City on Wednesday, the Blues' Petr Cech has said his club's experience of Champions League football will help win the on-going three-way battle for the final Champions League spot for next season.

Chelsea have 49 points from 28 games this season and are currently fifth in the league, three points behind Arsenal and four behind Spurs. There are only 10 games left in the season... meaning that every game takes on added importance for the three clubs concerned.

Chelsea will have to contend with a run of two fixtures that could potentially either make or break their Champions League ambitions for the next year - they face City on Wednesday and Spurs three days later.

The Champions League will be the absolute minimum for Chelsea - who have played in the tournament every year since 2003.

"I think, yes. We have been together through so many situations in eight years and a lot of people here remember those, so we have the benefit of the experience of that. We seem to cope with the difficult situations quite well so, hopefully, this experience we've got throughout the years will help us reach our targets. We are approaching these next two games with confidence now," Cech was quoted as saying by ESPN.

However, the odds seem to be piled up against the West London club.

City have won their last 19 home games, which is a Premier League record. They have also won all 14 home games this season, conceding only six goals.

Chelsea may be on a four-game winning streak, under interim manager Roberto Di Matteo, but the fact that they have only won five of their 14 away games this season could become a factor.

Meanwhile, Carlos Tevez could make a surprise return to the City squad for this fixture. However, his participation is likely to be from the bench since he has not played a competitive game for City since September. That bit of good news is offset by the fact that defenders Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta will probably not be available to Mancini; he should be able to call on Joleon Lescott, though. In the event that Lescott too is unavailable, the less experienced Stefan Savic would probably fill in alongside Kolo Toure. Gareth Barry is in line to return after recovering from a back injury but faces competition from the in-form Nigel de Jong and David Pizarro.

Chelsea's biggest concern will be the fact that captain John Terry will be unavailable. Terry was substituted late in the game against Napoli, after appearing to be troubled by a recurring knee injury and has been ruled out for this game. Di Matteo will probably not make too many changes to his side and Didier Drogba should re-take his starting slot in attack, at the expense of Fernando Torres, despite the latter's two goals against Leicester City.