By dixon9
March 7 2007

I don’t have a very good feeling about this game. Drogba is carrying a back injury. Terry won’t return until the FA Cup match against Spurs. Will José play a 70% Drogba or will he opt for a 4-3-3 with Robben and Wright-Philips on the flanks with Sheva in the centre?

That should work shouldn’t it? Possibly, but José will probably start more cautiously.

 

The encouraging news is that Boulahrouz returns from injury to partner Carvalho leaving Essien in the midfield role in which he excels.

On the Porto side, defender Bosingwa will be replaced by Slovakian Marek Cech after picking up a thigh injury against Braga.

Of course, the ones to watch are the sensational (yet theatrical) Quaresema, Paulo Assunçao, and Lisandro Lopez.  Postiga (ex Spurs) features as a sometimes lone striker with the rapid Gonzalez in support.  Porto aren’t to be taken lightly and seem to have recovered form that they last saw during the Mourinho era.

 

Quaresema is an alleged Chelsea target for the summer, although with the return of Joe Cole and Robben not getting injured every 5 minutes this may well be overkill.   Atletico Madrid are also after him – the only way I can see us signing a player of his type is if say SWP gets sold.

 

Porto have to score – possibly at least 2 goals so we can expect them to be very open and attack.  I won’t be surprised if José WILL go for a 4-4-1-1 and leave Drogba on the bench to be called upon as and when needed. 

 

I’m expecting a cagy first half with Porto pressurising with the advantage of having an ultra-quick counter attack strategy with Robben being the main weapon.

Pepe is one yellow away from a 1 match suspension as is Essien which isn’t a very comforting thought if we win this and get a big one in the next round.

We have won our home CL games without conceding whilst Porto have won their last 2 always.  Ashley Cole will make his 50^th CL appearance and Porto their 100^th game in European football at this level.

This will no doubt be a very tense affair.

 

I reckon we’ll go 4-4-1-1 to start with:  Cech, Diarra, Boulahrouz, Carvalho, A Cole, Makalele, Ballack, Lampard, Essien, Robben and Shevchenko.

 

Hopefully, we’ll score 1-2 on the break in the first half and possibly change to 4-4-2 afterwards with the removal of Maka for SWP/Robben for Drogba who is currently joint CL top scorer.

 

Despite my concerns, my prediction is a 3-1 win with Shevchenko, Robben and Essien on the score sheet and Postiga for them with a late consolation.