Barcelona’s recent 5-0 trampling of Sofia cemented the Bulgarians’ status as the whipping boys of a thoroughly demanding group.

Wednesday night’s encounter will be regarded as a duck shoot for the Blues and misfiring superstar Andriy Shevchenko will be looking to open his European account against Sofia’s shaky back four. While his strike-partner Drogba has enjoyed a sensational start to the season, the Ukranian hitman has yet to find his feet in the Chelsea side.

John Terry has been suffering from back pain, and was expected not to travel with the team. It has emerged that he has shaken off the injury, so I expect John to make Chelsea’s starting line up.

Sofia are expected to resort to damage limitation tactics. They looked vulnerable from set pieces against Barcelona, and Chelsea will look to exploit that weakness. They may find the best way to deal with Chelsea will be to employ a formation that facilitates some added width in the midfield. Chelsea are vulnerable down the flanks due to the lack of out-and-out wingers available.

Predicted line ups

Chelsea:

Cech
Bouhlarouz-Carvalho-Terry-A.Cole
Makelele
Essien Ballack Lampard
Drogba-Shevchenko

Levski Sofia:

Petkov
Angelov-Milanov-Topusukov-Wagner
Telkiyski-Borimiov-Richard-Ivanov
Yoyov-Bardon

Soccerlens Match Prediction

I predict that the score will be 3-1 to Chelsea.

I have a slight inkling that Sofia will get an early goal due to the unsettled status of Chelsea’s back four. The various injuries and re-insertion of semi-fit players could result in a few mistakes occurring. I still predict a comfortable win with Shevchenko getting 2 goals and one of the midfielders popping up with a goal from distance. If everything goes particularly well for the Blues, expect Drogba to get on the scoresheet as well.

A lot of people are expecting a rout, but after their poor performance against Barcelona, I feel that Sofia will re-arrange themselves in order to defend as deeply as possible whilst trying to hit Chelsea on the break. If they manage to really push Chelsea down the flanks, they may be able to contain much of the attacking threat posed through the middle of the park, thus compromising the integrity of Chelsea’s formation.