Sofiane Fegohuli of Valencia and Ashley Cole of Chelsea battle for the ball during the UEFA Champions League Group E match between Valencia CF and Chelsea at the Estadio Mestalla in Valencia, Spain. Chelsea and Valencia play again on Tuesday, December 6, 2011. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
Chelsea and Valencia are likely battling for one place in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages when they clash at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday
Matchday 5 of the UEFA Champions League couldn't have possibly gone worse for Chelsea or better for Valencia. While the Blues were crushed by a 90th minute Bayer Leverkusen goal, giving the Bundesliga side a 2-1 win, Los Che obliterated Racing Genk, 7-0.
This leaves Chelsea and Valencia on eight points each. Simply, either goes through with a win at Stamford Bridge. A 0-0 draw would send Chelsea through, while any other draw would send Valencia through in the case that Bayer Leverkusen do not lose to Racing Genk.
Chelsea have a clean bill of health, leaving Andre Villas-Boas to call on any team he wants with the notable exclusion of Michael Essien, who tore knee ligaments in preseason. Valencia are facing a number of injury problems, however, and Unai Emery has some difficult decisions to make. Hedwiges Maduro and Sergio Canales are out with long-term injuries, while Ricardo Costa, Victor Ruiz and Ever Banega are all questionable. None of the three made Valencia's 18-man squad in their 2-1 La Liga win over Espanyol on the weekend.
Chelsea Vs. Valencia
Game Date / Time: Tuesday, December 6. 2:45 pm ET, 7:45 pm GMT
Venue: Stamford Bridge, London, England
Television: FOX Soccer Channel (USA), Sky Sports 2 (UK)
Check out Chelsea FC blog We Ain't Got No History for more on the Blues. We'll have coverage of all of the UEFA Champions League matches at SB Nation Soccer. For more from around the world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.
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