Chelsea v Atletico Madrid – Champions League Group D

Chelsea will be happy that they are back at Stamford Bridge for Wednesday’s Match Day Three fixture against Atletico Madrid. The Blues suffered their second consecutive away league defeat on Saturday, as they fell to 2-1 to Aston Villa. Carlo Ancelotti will be bitterly disappointed with his team, as that defeat has let rivals Manchester United slide into first place in the league. It is hard to see why Chelsea have not been as good as they usually are away from home. The first defeat was largely brought about by having their keeper Petr Cech sent off, but they still managed to undo themselves as opposed to being outplayed. The same happened on Saturday, when they let in two goals from set pieces. That is not the Chelsea defence which dominates teams normally.

Chelsea pride themselves on being stingy at the back, but the Villa defeat will give Ancelotti food for thought, and Wednesday’s opponents Atletico, will probably be hoping that they get a plethora of corners. It appears that if there is one way past the Chelsea back four, it could be through corners. There will probably be much hype as soon as the visitors get a corner, but if Chelsea deal with it, then they should be fine. This could in fact, be just the game that Chelsea needs in order to restore some confidence in themselves. They will again be without the suspended Didier Drogba, who is an immense force up front, and so Niklas Anelka will lead the line.

Altetico are having an extremely poor start to their season. In the Champions League, they were held to a goalless draw against Apoel Nicosia on Match Day One, and then suffered a bad 2-0 defeat to Porto. The Spanish side, by far the weakest one in the Champions League, are lingering around the bottom quarter of the Spanish League, where they have won just one game out of seven. Add to that the fact that they are rock bottom in Group D without a goal to their name, then it appears as if they are in for a very long season. Chelsea will be desperate to take another three points, making in a maximum nine from nine at the halfway stage of Group Qualifying.

Chelsea certainly have the experience to go deep into the competition against this season, and Michael Ballack, who returns to the Chelsea line-up after missing Saturday’s defeat, knows that they can afford to take it easy. They need to learn from recent mistakes, and Carlo Ancelotti has been drilling that into them on the training ground. Players do make mistakes, but the team has to be there and be responsible to make amends. Chelsea have not been doing that, and the game against a well-below part Atletico Madrid could be just the tonic they need.

Chelsea to win: 7/19 at Coral
Draw: 4/1 at SkyBet
Atletico Madrid to win: 10/1 at SkyBet

Betting Advice: Chelsea need a confident and domineering display. They are good at the back, and all the media hype surrounding the Villa defeat, should just be a blip on the radar. Atletico will probably give more of a game than their current standings, but it won’t be good enough to beat Chelsea at the Bridge. They will have been concentrating on getting those little bugs out of their game, and they are professional enough to get the job done. It is unlikely that it will be a great break out game, as they will miss the influential Drogba up front. A comfortable result should involve a clean sheet.
Chelsea to win 2-0: 11/2 at BetFred
Niklas Anelka First Goalscorer: 4/1 at Ladbrokes