betprepare.com

Schalke undefeated at home

The German team have their ups and downs but have not lost at home yet. The problem is Chelsea have not lost at all so far this season

Schalke continued their home winning run this weekend, taking a 3-0 lead against the strong Wolfsburg team at the very start and somehow managing to hold on to it till the end. They're second ranked in the Champions League right now, but this can be deceiving as they first face the favored English team today and play the last round game away against Maribor, who will also be looking to advance.

- We have to play a great game and hope Chelsea will have a bad day- said home team's coach Di Matteo.


He spent most of the press conference commenting on his feelings towards the team he played for and led to the top of Europe as a coach.


- I still have lots of friends there, but this is business. The only thing I'm looking for is how to win three points. We can socialize later- said the Italian.


As usual, he will not have the full roster at his disposal, but it seems even this skeleton of a roster found a backbone. We might expect a somewhat more defensive approach than they usually employ, but one gets the feeling that Schalke lack power to attack Chelsea. Three points would take them a long way towards the next stage, but it seems they'd settle for a point as well.


Huntelaar and Choupo-Moting will likely be in charge of offense, with the rest of the team dealing mostly with defense.



Chelsea are dominating the Premiership and are step away from advancing in the Champions League, something Jose Mourinho would like to deal with at Gelsenkirchen tonight, so he can calmly turn to the challenges of the championship.


This means Chelsea will field their level best against their former European title winning coach, clearly bent on taking at least a point and all three if possible. Somewhat poor performance in Maribor and just a point won should further mobilize the London team and get them serious, as well as a 1-1 draw against Schalke at Stamford Bridge.


- It would be very important for us to secure advancement tonight as we have eight games to play in December, so we have to manage our strength the best we can. It is therefore perfectly clear we came here to win- said Jose Mourinho, who is pleased with the way his team is playing and winning, and should be, as the team remain undefeated so far in official matches, with 14 victories and 4 draws.


- Nothing was given to us this season that we did not earn, there was no luck involved. We're playing well and the results reflect that. I cannot single out any individuals, we did not come here to play against Roberto Di Matteo, we came to face Schalke, who are a good team and can be very unpleasant, so we have to play aggressively and like a team throughout the match- concluded Mourinho.