Chelsea travel to the Allianz Arena tonight to face Bayern Munich in the Champions League Final, and try and erase the heartache of penalty shootout failure against Man United just a few seasons ago.
If the prospect of playing the final on Bayerns turf wasn’t bad enough, they will have to do it without their captain John Terry, as well as Ivanovic, Meireles, and Ramires, who are all suspended for this clash.
They are also sweating on the fitness of Gary Cahill and David Luiz, who have not played in the run-up to this game, but are expected to be fit.
Munich also have problems of their own, with Badstuber, David Alaba, and Luiz Gustavo all out suspended too.
The odds are staked against Chelsea though, when you look at both teams recent form in the competition, although The Blues did upset the odds though to come through against both Napoli and Barcelona, although they have only once won away from home this season, while Bayern have won 13 of their 14 home games in this seasons campaign.
Didier Drogba will want to make amends for his sending off in the final vs Man Utd a few years ago, and has a knack of scoring important goals recently, including the decisive goal in the FA Cup Final against Liverpool earlier this month.
However, in the five previous finals where a German side has faced an English one, four have them have been won by the English side.
Probable line-ups: Bayern Munich (4-4-1-1) Neuer; Lahm, Boateng, Tymoshchuk, Contento; Kroos, Schweinsteiger, Muller, Robben; Ribery; Gomez
Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa, Luiz, Cahill, Cole; Mikel, Essien, Lampard; Kalou, Mata, Drogba.
Referee: Pedro Proenca (Portugese)
Chelsea are huge underdogs today, so I think it’s a great night for betting. Here are my bets for tonights game:
Over 3.5 goals @ 9/4
Drogba AGS @ 11/4
Schweinsteiger FGS @ 12/1
Chelsea to lift trophy @ 9/4
Draw or Chelsea @ 11/10
Prediction: Bayern Munich 1 Chelsea 2
By Brad Smith