Champions League Group E Preview: Chelsea look to capitalise on Schalke’s growing injury problems

September 16, 2014

Chelsea are considered 7/5 favourites to move to the top of Group E with a win against injury-hit Schalke in Gelsenkirchen as Basel looks to keep pace with leaders with a win against Steaua Bucharest in Romania.

The main focus of Group E will switch to Gelsenkirchen where 2012 champions Chelsea could move to the top of the standings with a win against current leaders Schalke.

Schalke have won their first two in the group standings and have a 3 point lead at the top of the standings after beating both Steaua and Basel.

However, the last few weeks have been tough on Schalke with the club losing a number of their star players to injury with star striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar out for the rest of the year with a knee problem.

Their attacking problems have been compounded with Peruvian winger Jefferson Farfan nursing a hamstring problem and Kevin Prince Boateng will ned a late fitness test to see whether he can play any part in the tie.

With another 4 players out, the squad have turned to 35 year old veteran midfielder Gerald Asamoah to provide
the necessary coverage in the middle of the park.

Chelsea will certainly have their sights on the top of the group having recovered from the opening game loss to Basel to move within 3 points of Schalke.

Jose Mourinho currently has no injury worries ahead of the trip to Germany but there could be some changes in
defence as David Luiz could be replaced by Gary Cahill following his embarrassing error in the 4-1 win against Cardiff on Saturday.

There could also be some changes in the attack with Oscar pushing for a start after producing yet another devastating display at the weekend and could come in at the expense of fellow Brazilian Willian.

In the other tie, Basel could move into 2nd place with a win against Steaua Bucharest in Romania who have lost both of their opening games in the group.

Basel will no doubt be hoping that Marco Streller will be able to keep up his strong form that has so far seen him score 6 goals in 9 games this season meanwhile Steaua will hope that goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu will be able to live up to his reputation and keep the Swiss side at bay for the entire game.

With Basel and Chelsea hunting down Schalke, Group E could become much more open come the end of Tuesday’s games as the race for qualification starts to hot up.