Next Wednesday, 10th of December 2014, a hurt-in-their-pride Chelsea will entertain the Portuguese powerhouse of Sporting at Stamford Bridge for the last match of the UEFA Champions League group stage, on a clash where the visitors need, at least, to get one point in order to grant a place on the next stage of the competition and that has no major interest for the Blues, who have already secured their place on the Round of 16 when they smashed Schalke 04 later last month.

José Mourinho was certainly everything but happy with his team’s first Premier League defeat last Saturday against Newcastle by 2-1. Chelsea, who were still undefeated before that match, failed to overcome a well organized Newcastle team that counted on a highly inspired Papiss Cissé, who scored the Magpies both goals. The Blues were far superior throughout the entire match, but their clearly uninspired defence line compromised the team’s attacking efforts. The Ivorian sharpshooter, Didier Drogba, put Chelsea in the match once again with a powerful header after a Fàbregas’ pinpointing free-kick on the 83rd minute, but his goal wasn’t enough to avoid the Blues first EPL defeat of the season.

Last weekend’s defeat could have two very different outcomes in the team’s morale: it might decrease their confidence levels or it might instead help to face the upcoming matches with even more will and desire to win. The Portuguese historical team, Sporting, may become the first victims of Chelsea’s avid desire to bounce back from last Saturday’s upset and they might leave Stamford Bridge with a heavy defeat in their bags.

For that particular match, José Mourinho will have all the players at his disposal but he will most certainly implement several changes in the team in order to give some rest to some influential players.

As for Sporting, the Lisbon team has been having a fairly interesting campaign at the Champions League so far and they travel to London with hopes of snatching at least a point that would grant them a place on the next round of the competition. Later last month, Sporting entertained Maribor at Estádio José Alvalade and didn’t experience any major difficulties to overcome the Slovenian side. At the same time, they benefited from Chelsea’s goal galore at Gelsenkirchen and changed places with Schalke 04 on their group’s table.

Although Sporting is enjoying a very positive moment both on domestic and international competitions, Chelsea are firm favourites for next Wednesday’s match, even if Mourinho implements some rotation on his team.

Chelsea

Stats: W-3 L-0 D-2

Recent Form - WWDDW

Sporting

Stats: W-1 L-0 D-4

Recent Form - DWDDD

Possible Line-ups

Chelsea (4-3-3) – Cech - Ivanovic - Terry - Zouma - Filipe Luis - Matic - Fàbregas - Schurrle - Ramires - Hazard - Drogba

Sporting (4-3-3)  - Rui Patricio - Jefferson - Mauricio - Paulo Oliveira - J. Silva - William Carvalho - Adrien Silva - João Mário - Carrillo - Montero - Slimani

Prediction

Chelsea 2 Sporting 1