London: Out-of-form and low on morale, Chelsea head to Napoli in the Champions League on Tuesday aiming to maintain English interest in the competition.
With Manchester United and Manchester City shunted into the second-tier Europa League and Arsenal on the verge of elimination, Chelsea seem to be the only possible quarter-finalists from a country that provided six of the last 12 finalists.
Chelsea have a strong pedigree, with four semi-final appearances and an appearance in the 2008 final, but head into the game in Naples licking their wounds after having slipped to fifth in the Premier League and only managed a 1-1 draw in the FA Cup on Saturday against second-tier opponents.
While Chelsea coach Andre Villas-Boas acknowledged last week he has lost the support of some players, Napoli are full of confidence after an impressive 3-0 win at Fiorentina on Friday.
Edinson Cavani struck twice to take his tally for the season to 15 in Serie A.
"The first thing that came into my head after the game is that this is the right path and that we need the same attitude against Chelsea," Cavani said. "It will be a very hard game for us."
"I want Napoli to win so that we can continue making history. We won't give up until the end."
Defender Hugo Campagnaro is set to miss out with a calf injury, and will again be replaced by Gianluca Grava.
Villas-Boas is hoping captain John Terry and Ashley Cole are fit after injuries and could recall veterans Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard in a bid to bolster experience and confidence.
"You need an extra mental push," Villas-Boas said. "Until you get out of the cycle with a win, for sure it perpetuates a little bit."
Meanwhile, striker Didier Drogba insists the team is united in a bid to get the season back on track.
"I think we all are responsible for the results," Drogba said. "I think we all have to play our game, tomorrow is our chance. The good thing in football is that there is always another game to change bad, difficult moments. Tomorrow is one of those, we have to go out and enjoy the game."
"We feel that no one really believes in us. Tomorrow we are going to show we deserve to be here. It's a top game and we are going to have to get a good result. We have to be clever and do what the manager is going to ask us to do. Like always, of course. The best way is to believe we can do it. When you look at the squad, we have talent, we have goal-scorers here."
Reports emerged that Drogba gave a half-time team talk during the Birmingham match to help inspire Chelsea's second-half comeback, but the Ivory Coast striker said it was merely the senior players displaying leadership.
"The manager made the speech at half-time." Drogba said. "He has leaders in the squad and we are here to help him. We wanted to gee the team up at half-time and nothing more. People are making a big thing about nothing."
Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri is also fearful of a Chelsea backlash in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 match.
"Chelsea are worse than us at the moment but I don't trust (form tables)," Mazzarri said. "We're maybe coming into the game better as a whole, but their team is one of champions, who are all used to the atmosphere of great international events. I'm sure that they will regroup for the occasion."
In fact, the Italian sees the potential for a Chelsea fightback, starting at the Stadio San Paolo.
"Paradoxically, their difficulties at the moment in English competitions could be an extra obstacle for us. Even when results weren't happening for us we never stopped playing well, but single episodes made everything go badly."
Champions League newcomers Napoli are full of confidence after rising to sixth in the Serie A standings with two successive victories.
Mazzarri's men have also already dumped one Premier League team out the competition and, despite the coach's word of warning, his players will be quietly confident they can do the same to Chelsea as they did to Manchester City in the group stages.
Mazzarri himself though will be forced to watch both legs from the stands as punishment for his altercation with Villarreal striker Nilmar in the group match in December.
All eyes will also be on matters off the pitch. Fans from Manchester City, Liverpool and Bayern Munich have all suffered violence, including stab wounds, on recent visits to the Italian city.
Napoli have issued a public plea to their fans to behave.
"Napoli make a further and even stronger appeal to fans to respect the current norms in security matters, in line with UEFA rules," a club statement read. "Norms that if violated would provoke a stadium ban and hence compromise other big international events here."
Comments
0 comment