Chelsea sharpen blade for Champions League clash with Porto

Chelsea held a training session in London on Monday before flying to Portugal to face Porto on Tuesday in the second round of Champions League matches.

Chelsea’s comfortable 4-0 win at home to Maccabi Tel Aviv on Group G Match day One was a welcome respite after two successive Premier League defeats.

The Blues subsequently beat Arsenal 2-0, but on Saturday were held 2-2 at Newcastle United, only salvaging a draw with two goals in the last 11 minutes from Brazilians Ramires and Willian.

Chelsea’s Portuguese boss, Jose Mourinho, rated their first half performance on Saturday “minus one out of ten” after a game that left the English champions 15th in the table with eight points from seven games.

However, he told the club website that if they play as they did in the second half, they can win every match.

Spanish international striker Diego Costa is serving a domestic suspension, but will be available in Porto, where Mourinho became a hero by leading the Dragons to 2004 Champions League success.

Captain John Terry’s starting place has been taken this season by 20-year-old Kurt Zouma and Mourinho declined to say at the weekend whether the veteran 34-year-old would play in Portugal.

The manager has taken Chelsea to the Estadio do Dragao twice before in the Champions League, losing 2-1 in 2004 and drawing 1-1 in 2007.

Porto drew their opening Champions League Group G match 2-2 away to Dynamo Kiev.

They were held 2-2 by Moreirense on Friday and suffered injuries to two players: Algerian midfielder Yacine Brahimi, who scored five goals in nine Champions League games last season, and centre-back Maicon.

Coach Julen Lopetegui has said he will have to be assessed the injured players ahead of Tuesday’s game.

Porto remain top of the Portuguese table on goal difference from Sporting Lisbon and are unbeaten in 12 games in all competitions.