Follow live coverage of Schalke 04 v Chelsea here

Chelsea travel to Germany to take on Schalke in the third round of fixtures for the group stages on Tuesday.

Where to Watch Live

Kick-off is set for 7:45pm BST. Live coverage will be available on Sky Sports 2 and Sky Sports 2 HD.

Overview

Chelsea
Reuters

Schalke are currently top of their group with six points, having won both their fixtures thus far in the Champions League. A win here will go a long way in securing their spot in the round of 16, in what has turned out to be a hugely competitive group thus far. Schalke, in spite of their domestic slump in form have been a force to reckon with in Europe and will be confident to take Chelsea to the test after seeing the Blues being torn apart at home by Basel in September.

The Bundesliga club started their season with a 3-0 win over Romanian club Steaua Bucharest and followed that up with a 1-0 win over giant killers Basel. They are currently fifth in the league table in the Bundesliga, nine points behind leaders Bayern Munich with a bunch of tricky fixtures on the horizon. Schalke do have enough winning experience against English sides, having seen off Arsenal last season with a win at the Emirates and a 2-2 draw at home which saw them edge the Gunners to pole position.

Chelsea come into the game on the back of a 4-1 mauling of Cardiff City at Stamford Bridge and will be confident of getting the better of the Germans on their home turf. The Europa League winners have had a stop start beginning to their season and have failed to show the same solidarity that is reminiscent of great Jose Mourinho sides over the years. The Blues are second in the league table, two behind Arsenal and know that anything less than a win today will put them under pressure in the Champions league and inadvertently affect their performance in a crucial game against Manchester City next weekend.

What the Managers Say

Horst Heldt: "If we want to compete against Chelsea, we definitely need a boost in all individual performances. There were hardly any phases we really played football [against Braunschweig]. Some players really did not convince me. But no names... we'll deal with all that internally"

Jose Mourinho: "We lost the first match at home but won the second away. We now play two matches against the strongest team in the group."

Form Guide

Schalke

    • Last Five (all competitions, most recent first): W W W D W
    • Last Result: Eintracht Braunschweig 2 - 3 FC Schalke 04

Chelsea

    • Last Five (all competitions, most recent first): W W W D W
    • Last Result: Chelsea 4-1 Cardiff City

Team News

Schalke

Injured: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar(knee), Marco Hoger(knee)

Doubtful: N/A

Suspended: N/A

Probable Line-Up: Hildebrand; Uchida, Santana, Howedes, Aogo; Neustadter, Boateng; Clemens, Meyer, Draxler; Szalai

Chelsea

Injured: Ashley Cole(rib), Andre Schurrle(leg)

Doubtful: N/A

Suspended: N/A

Probable Line-Up: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Bertrand; Ramires, Obi Mikel; Mata, Oscar, Hazard; Torres