Chelsea vs Roma Champions League 08-09: Preview and Live Score

High flying Chelsea will take on struggling Roma tomorrow (22 October 2008) in an exciting Champions league group A match at Stamford Bridge. After suffering a humiliating 4-0 home defeat to leader Inter Milan last Sunday, Roma is not expected to be full of confidence against Chelsea on the road. Chelsea has gone through a series of victories in premier league, overcoming a string of injuries in the last few weeks. There are many who have already started claiming that Chelsea did not look as formidable as they were in the past few weeks without the likes of Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry, Deco, Michael Essien, Michael Ballack, Joe Cole, Didier Drogba etc.

Match: Chelsea vs Roma; Champions League 2008-2009,

Group A

Date: 22 October 2008, Wednesday

Venue: Stamford Bridge, London, England

Kick off: 19:45 BST (British Standard Time)

So, ahead of the match, the two sides are in completely different state of mind at this moment and there is no way to deny that Chelsea is favorite against Roma. A victory in the match would lead last season’s runners-up to the brink of qualification for the round of 16 in the Champions League, while another defeat for Roma would further deplete their confidence level and fade away their hopes of qualifying to the knock out stages.

IHT reported:

Although Chelsea is tied on points with Liverpool, the Blues have overcome a series of injuries to top the English standings on goal difference with a string of stirring performances that culminated with Saturday's 5-0 win at Middlesbrough.

Chelsea has hit four goals or more in four of its 11 matches in all competitions and, if the players approach the level that they produced at Middlesbrough, Roma's defense could be in for a torrid time.

Roma finished second in Serie A last season which is definitely a pretty good performance, but this season they are struggling to get their form back and have already lost 4 games out of 7 so far in Serie A this season. For a runner-up team of previous series, this is definitely a disappointing performance.

Roma is currently at the 14^th position in the league table with only 7 points to their credit. With a difference of 9 points with leader Inter Milan, it is pretty much sure that Roma is now a way behind the title race. Their Champions League performance is no better. Roma started their European campaign becoming a victim of one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when they were beaten by Romanian champion CFR Cluj 2-1 at home.

It was CFR Cluj’s first ever Champions league group stage appearance. Then in the second match, Roma defeated French side Bordeaux 3-1 on the road which came as a morale booster for Roma. However, Roma failed to hold on to the momentum gained in France as they suffered two back-to-back defeats that culminated with last Sunday’s crushing 4-0 defeat to Inter Milan.

Chelsea started their Europe campaign with a 4-0 victory over Bordeaux at home, they were held by a goalless draw by CFR Cluj. Despite a number of injury problems, Chelsea remained atop the league table of both premier league as well as Group A of Champions League. Deco and Terry came back with the match against Middlesbrough after recovering their injuries, while goalkeeper Petr Czech is expected to be back with the match against Roma.

The Times reported:

They are in pole position in the Premier League and a win over Roma at the Bridge would put last season’s runners-up firmly on course for the knockout stages in the Champions League.

Scolari could have goalkeeper Petr Cech back from the thigh injury that forced him out of Saturday’s win but, even with most of the other walking wounded likely to be sidelined again, Chelsea are still strong favourites to make it seven points from nine in Europe.

Roma does not have many injury problems. Rather they are expected to come out stronger against Chelsea than they did against Inter Milan as defenders Philippe Mexes and Christian Panucci will be back in the squad after missing the Inter Milan match on suspension. Captain Francesco Totti has been in the starting line up against Inter Milan which was his first start this season since undergoing a knee surgery about six months back.

Online Live Score and Update

Here, I am giving some online live score website names from where you can get the live updates of this match:

Live Score

Goalzz

Live Football Scores

Goal.com

Footie Scorez

To be honest with you, there is hardly anybody who can deny that Chelsea is not favorite for this Champions League showdown, considering Chelsea’s imperious recent form and Roma’s continuous lackluster show. Moreover, Chelsea’s Stamford is known to be one of the most formidable fortress in the Europe which is very hard to break even for a big team at their top form. So, a draw should be satisfactory result for the Italian club, but they have to hold a winning approach in them, because if you play for a draw at Stamford Bridge when Chelsea is at their prime form, you are only digging hole under your feet.