Champions League: Chelsea vs. Spartak Moscow Preview
Chelsea host Spartak Moscow tonight with their sights set on finishing top of their group in the UEFA Champions League and qualifying for the last 16. The Blues can confirm their ticket to the next stage of the competition with a win at
Stamford Bridge today and two games in hand, as long Zilina manage to defeat Marseille in the other Group F match.
A three point advantage would be a great confidence boost for the Blues, not only does it guarantee automatic qualification into the next round, it ensures that they finish group leaders. A win today will also maintain a full European
record for the Blues; Ancelotti’s men are yet to lose a game in the European competition.
The Blues will be confident going into the game as in the first leg of the fixture against their Russian opponents, they had a comfortable 2-0 win. It was a convincing win, with various first team players missing but Nicolas Anelka and
Malouda scoring goals to ensure the Blues had four out of four wins in their European adventures.
Spartak were previously enjoying a good start to their European campaign, having two wins in their opening two games. However, they were handed their first defeat when the Blues visited at the Luzhniki Stadium. There was a sentimental
factor to the win at Luzhniki Stadium; it was the same place the Blues had lost the Champions League final to rivals Manchester United in 2008.
Both sides go look forward to the European fixture after success at home, Chelsea, for the first time this season, came from a goal down to win the game 2-1. The Blues were not in the best of forms, but they quickly recovered and in the
end collected all three precious points. Spartak Moscow beat FC Rostov by the same score line, securing three points for themselves.
Chelsea are top of the English Premier League, five points clear of all competition, while Spartak Moscow are fourth in their respective league. Apart from their good form, the Blues have the statistics in their favour; they have not been
beaten at home in the group stages for over 21 games. However, Ancelotti claimed his side would continue with their attacking game to ensure wins.
Ancelotti told reporters, “We are in a good position in both the Champions League and the Premier League, but we have to continue to do our best because when you are at the top everybody wants to beat you. This is normal. (Spartak) played
well in the second half of the game two weeks ago. We played too defensively and we want to play a different game tomorrow.”
The Spartak boss Karpin felt the result against the Blues would not be crucial in his side’s qualification to the next round. He said, “It's not a decisive match, we still have to play both the other sides in this group. It will be a hard
match as we're playing against one of the best teams in the world but I wouldn't say it's decisive. Any result is possible - in the second half against Chelsea we were equal to them.”
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