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Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho Getty

Chelsea welcome Schalke in the Group G clash of the Champions League at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday evening.

Where to Watch Live

Kick-off is set for 7:45pm BST. Live coverage is on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 1 HD.

Overview

Chelsea are the form team in Europe at the moment and they welcome an injury ravaged Schalke to Stamford Bridge for match day 1 in this season's Champions League. This is the second successive season that these two teams are drawn together in the same group and the last time the German team visited they were beaten 3-0 by the Blues.

Jose Mourinho has a fully fit squad to choose from and will hope his team will carry on the blistering form they have shown in the Premier League. Diego Costa is the man of the moment having scored seven goals in his first four games for Chelsea.

Draxler Schalke
Julian Draxler Reuters

Meanwhile, Schalke are on the opposite end of the stick, having had their worst start to a Bundesliga season ever. The German team have just managed one point in three domestic games and are yet to win a match this season in any competition.

Jens Keller will be struggling to make up numbers following a spate of injuries with the main one being to captain Benedikt Howedes, who is their main player at the heart of the defence. Even key players like Julian Draxler and Klass jan Huntelaar, who are likely to start are not 100% fit.

Mourinho is aiming to become the first coach to win the Champions League with three different teams, having previously won it with FC Porto and Inter Milan.

What Managers Say

Jose Mourinho (Chelsea): "Motivation is always the same, it does not change. What drives me is to try to win. I work for my club, for my players and for the supporters: I do not work for myself. It doesn't matter what the competition is or who the opponent is, we want to win every match. We are far from perfect; we try to improve every day. Obviously there was an evolution from last year to this year, but last season we did well too. We reached the Champions League semi-finals and were fighting for the league."

Jens Keller (Schalke): "It's very difficult if you lose your captain and for the rest of the defenders he is a very important player. We will just have to put four players into the back four, but we still have a little bit of time to consider our options and what solutions we have open to us. We've learnt [from previous games against Chelsea] that mistakes get punished. We learnt that home and away last season. We know they're a top team and now with the new acquisitions they've made they are even more so."

Betting Odds (888Sport.com)

  • Chelsea to win: 3/10
  • Draw: 24/5
  • Schalke to win: 19/2

Team News

Chelsea

  • Injured: N/A
  • Doubtful: N/A
  • Suspended: N/A

Possible XI: Courtois; Ivanović, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Fàbregas, Matić; Schürrle, Oscar, Hazard; Costa.

Schalke

  • Injured: Fabian Giefer (groin), Benedikt Höwedes (hip), Felipe Santana (hamstring), Sead Kolašinac (knee), Atsuto Uchida (knee), Joel Matip (groin), Leon Goretzka (hamstring), Jefferson Farfán (knee)
  • Doubtful: N/A
  • Suspended: N/A

Possible XI: Fährmann; Höger, Ayhan, Friedrich, Aogo; Boateng, Neustädter, Sam, Meyer, Draxler; Huntelaar.

Chelsea FC Jose Mourinho Champions League