Chelsea Pre-Schalke Team News & Injury Update: Mourinho Gives Latest News

Chelsea take on Schalke at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night looking to go one step closer to securing qualification to the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Ahead of the game, boss Jose Mourinho have given Chelseafc.com a team news and injury update with the latest on Fernando Torres, Ryan Bertrand, Samuel Eto’o and Demba Ba.

The bad news is that striker Torres has been ruled out of the game after picking up a thigh strain in training. The Spaniard will have scans on the problem on Wednesday to assess the extent of the injury but Mourinho has already ruled him out of the Schalke game as well as the weekend clash with West Brom.

Torres’ absence opens the door for Eto’o and Ba and the Blues boss confirmed that the pair will be given their chance to impress over the next two games.

Defender Bertrand has also been ruled out after suffering an injury in training today, so Ashley Cole will continue at left-back. Here what the boss told the clubs official website:

‘Fernando has a muscular injury, we have to wait for the scans tomorrow but it’s easy to say he’s out tomorrow and at the weekend, after that is the international break and we’ll have to see if he can recover.

‘Bertrand is injured, just today in training so I cannot say what, but he’s also out of selection.

‘Samuel and Demba, they want to play, they are waiting for opportunities to play so when they have a chance, and they know they will have it now and against West Brom, they know they have in their hands the job to play up front. It’s a good motivation for them and hopefully they can express on the pitch the way they work during the week.’

Chelsea saw their recent good run ended with a 2-0 loss to Newcastle on Saturday and Mourinho has once again reiterated that he will make changes to his starting eleven tomorrow.

‘I don’t want people to see the changes I make tomorrow as though someone’s paying for the defeat at Newcastle because that’s not the case,’ he said. ‘I read a game once, twice, or three times and how players performed, and after that you have to make changes, not to punish people, completely far from it, but to try to get the best team to win the game.

A win for the Blues will take them to 9 points and within touching distance of securing safe passage to the knockout stages of the Champions League, but defeat would leave their qualification hopes hanging in the balance with FC Basel just two points behind.

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