PREVIEW: Chelsea prepare for tough test as Barcelona travel to Stamford Bridge | OneFootball

Chelsea welcome Barcelona to Stamford Bridge in matchday five of the Champions League on Tuesday evening.

The Blues are undefeated their last five games in all competitions, with their last loss coming at home to Sunderland in late October.

In Europe, their Champions League campaign has been patchy, with wins over Benfica and Ajax sandwiched between an opening day defeat against Bayern Munich and their most recent result, a 2-2 draw against Azerbaijani champions Qarabağ.

Those results mean Enzo Maresca’s men sit 12th in the league phase table with seven points, two adrift of eighth place Liverpool and the automatic qualifying spots.

Chelsea will still be without Cole Palmer, Levi Colwill, Romeo Lavia and Dário Essugo who are out injured.

Meanwhile visitors Barcelona are undefeated in their last four matches since their Clasico defeat to Real Madrid at the end of October.

They’ve since beaten Elche, Celta Vigo and Athletic Club in LaLiga, though their Champions League record is as inconsistent as Chelsea’s; like their hosts on Tuesday, the Blaugrana have amassed seven points after two wins, one defeat and one draw, and currently sit one place above Chelsea in 11th.

Their last game in the competition was that draw, which came in the form of a 3-3 thriller against Club Brugge at the Jan Breydel Stadium.

Tuesday’s Stamford Bridge clash will be the 18th meeting between the two sides. So far, the sides have drawn six times, while Chelsea have won five to Barcelona’s six.

The last time the sides met was in March 2018 where Barcelona won 3-0 against their hosts at the Camp Nou. In the same season, the two sides drew 1-1 at Stamford Bridge.

Barcelona will still be without Gavi, Pedri and Marc-André ter Stegen, while Marcus Rashford has been named in the squad after missing their 4-0 win over Athletic Club with flu.

The match will be live on Amazon Prime Video in the UK and will kick-off at 20:00 GMT.

Predicted line-ups

CHE: Sánchez; James, Adarabioyo, Hato, Cucurella; Fernández, Caicedo; Estêvão, Pedro, Gittens; Delap

FCB: J. García; Koundé, Araújo, García, Martín; Casadó, Fermín, De Jong; Yamal, Lewandowski, Raphinha