Chelsea host Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday night looking to get back to winning ways.
Enzo Maresca’s side were held to a 2-2 draw by Qarabag earlier this month in Azerbaijan following back-to-back victories over Benfica and Ajax.
The opposition will be stronger on Tuesday night as Barcelona head to London, with Chelsea looking to extend their impressive home European record. They have lost only two of their last 61 European group stage/league phase matches at Stamford Bridge and are unbeaten in 16 (W12 D4).
Although they were handed a welcome boost with Cole Palmer returning to training this week, he will not be available. Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo and Estevao will be itching to start and feature after they were unused in the 2-0 win against Burnley in the Premier League.
Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez will be keen to make an impact against Barcelona after their goals against Burnley.
It’s the first of two massive matches for Chelsea this week – with Arsenal next on Sunday. Maresca knows what awaits his Blues side, but insists it is business as usual.
“It’s a big week, as you said, but at the end of this week, then we have Leeds away, Bournemouth away, Atalanta away, so it’s another big one,” previewed the Chelsea head coach.
“It’s always a big week, they are all important games, at the end of every game is three points, for sure there are games like Barcelona and Arsenal that are important for different reasons, but actually the best thing for us is to win the game.”
Chelsea have made progress since their opening matchday defeat to Bayern Munich back in September, which has left Maresca in confident mood of getting a result against the Spanish giants.
“Personally, I think we are a better team compared to the day we played Bayern away, but every game is different,” added Maresca during his pre-match press conference.
“Barcelona use different weapons to attack, also different weapons to defend, so it will be a completely different game, but for me personally the team is getting better day after day.”
