Sporting vs. Chelsea: How the Blues Should Line Up in Champions League Game

Chelsea travel to Lisbon to face Sporting Clube de Portugal in the second match of their Champions League group campaign. All four teams in Group G are level on points as the opening matches both ended in 1-1 draws, giving an extra incentive to win this tie.

Jose Mourinho will be returning to the club where he kick-started his career in the 1990s as Bobby Robson’s assistant, but there will be no room for sentimentality from the Portuguese. Speaking after the draw for the group was made, Mourinho said, per Goal.com:

"

It's not because I'm Portuguese, but the Portuguese teams are always very difficult. The Portuguese league is not a strong league, but the three top teams are very strong.

You go through Chelsea's history and you'll see when Chelsea play Benfica it was difficult, when Chelsea play Porto it was difficult, and when Chelsea play Sporting in a couple of weeks it will be difficult.

We also have fixtures which are like a poison gift for us. Every time we play in the Champions League, the next match we play is against Man City, against Arsenal, against Man United and against Liverpool. So we have difficult weeks ahead of us.

"

Thibaut Courtois recorded his second clean sheet of the season against Aston Villa on Saturday and should start in Lisbon ahead of Petr Cech. In front of him, the back four is also likely to remain unchanged, with Branislav Ivanovic on the right of Gary Cahill and John Terry. Cesar Azpilicueta should complete the back four, having recorded his first assists of the season at the weekend when his cross found the head of Diego Costa.

Nemanja Matic seems to have learned from the mistakes he made against Manchester City which saw him caught too far up the pitch on several occasions. He is most likely to start in the heart of midfield alongside Cesc Fabregas, whose passing range and vision has been so crucial to Chelsea’s excellent start to the season.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

Oscar has shrugged off the fatigue that caused his start to the season to underwhelm and has scored in consecutive games. His ability to drop back to support the holding midfielders as well as linking the attacking play should see him keep his place in the No. 10 role.

Eden Hazard had an uncharacteristically poor game against Villa, but Mourinho was not concerned, per the official Chelsea website: “Hazard started the season well, played good matches but had an isolated not good performance. But no dramas and I’m not too worried about it. It was not his day.”

The Belgian will most likely keep his place on the left of the attack, with Willian completing the trio on the right. Despite a patchy start to the season, the Brazilian has come into his own in the last two matches and is likely to be preferred to the profligate Andre Schurrle.

Mourinho’s biggest selection headache comes upfront, where he must decide whether to risk the in-form Costa with the London derby looming on the horizon.

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Diego Costa (8 goals in 6 Premier League games) will be good when he’s fit, says Jose Mourinho #cfc pic.twitter.com/89lUwjrvFT

— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) September 27, 2014"

Mourinho opted for the experience of Didier Drogba upfront against Schalke, but he should instead start Loic Remy in Lisbon. The Frenchman scored on his debut from the bench and cited the Champions League as one of the reasons behind his decision to join Chelsea when he spoke to the official website after signing.

If this plan fails to produce goals, Costa should come in for the last half an hour, giving him four full days to rest before the Blues face Arsenal on Sunday.

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Sporting CP are looking to extend their unbeaten home European record to an impressive 17 games. However, they have drawn four of their six league games so far this season, and Mourinho will be hoping that another strong performance from his Chelsea side will be enough to clinch maximum points in Lisbon.

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