Paris Saint-Germain vs Chelsea - Are the Blues the Ultimate Test for Paris Saint-Germain?

Next Wednesday, PSG will go head-to-head with Chelsea at Parc des Princes for the Quarter-finals first leg of the UEFA Champions League on what promises to be a very tight clash for both sides. Paris Saint-Germain are enjoying a fantastic moment at Ligue 1 with seven consecutive wins and only two goals conceded since they met AS Monaco back in February. Laurent Blanc’s side are a just a few matches away from securing the French league title after an almost flawless campaign with just one defeat on thirty-one matches. The team’s Champions League campaign was also very positive with just one defeat at the hands of SL Benfica on the way up.

For next Wednesday’s match, the French manager will have almost all his players at his disposal with the exception of the Dutch defender Gregory van der Wiel, who is likely to miss the match due to injury.

Chelsea on the other hand, are definitely not going through the best of moods with two defeats on the last three matches. After the goal galore against Arsenal last one week ago, José Mourinho’s side sucumbed to at the hands of “fragile” Crystal Palace and seriously compromised the team’s title battle with their closer contenders. Mourinho went as far as claiming that Chelsea was out of the title race, at the press conference following the defeat produced by John Terry’s own goal.

Next Wednesday at Parc des Princes, José Mourinho is not yet certain if he will be able to count on the Cameroonian centre forward Samuel Eto’o and on the English left back Ashley Cole, both of them still recovering from minor injuries.

Last time both teams met in Paris was back in 2004 on a match that Chelsea easily won 3-0 with one goal from Terry and two from Didier Drogba. Unfortunately for José Mourinho, next Wednesday will certainly not be as easy, since his team will face one of the most consistent and powerful sides of European football these days.

Paris Saint-Germain: W-4 L-1 D-1

Recent Form: WDWLWW

Chelsea: W-4 L1- D-1

Recent Form: WWLWDW

Possible Line-ups

Paris Saint-Germain  (4-3-3) – Sirigu - Digne - Thiago Silva - Alex - Maxwell - Motta - Matuidi - Verratti - Lucas - Cavani - Ibrahimovic

Chelsea (4-3-3) – Cech - Ivanovic - David Luiz - Terry - Azpilicueta - Lampard - Ramires - Oscar - Hazard - Schürrle - Torres

Prediction: Paris Saint-Germain 1 Chelsea 1 bet @ 21/10 at William Hill