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Champions League: Home advantage should see Chelsea through

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Morgan in the driving seat: Allsy expects a Chelsea 4-5-1 formation, a big performance from Didier Drogba and a safe passage for the West Londoners into the next round of the Champions League

From Anfield to Stamford Bridge you can really feel the tension mounting for three of England's Champions League quarter-finalists. Only Sir Alex's team will approach the second quarter-final leg with some sense of conviction having secured a devastating 2-0 win in Rome last week.

Liverpool and Arsenal have battled it out for 180 minutes this week and still can't be separated but only one of England's 'Big Four' lost after the first leg.

Chelsea travelled to Fenerbahce, (the side most English teams would have chosen before the draw), but returned from the Sukru Saracoglu stadium scratching their heads after a 2-1 defeat. After dominating the game for around an hour, Fenerbahce fought back from 1-0 down to shoplift a first-leg lead with the most outrageous, stunning and down right genius strike from Deivid with ten minutes to go.

With 90 minutes at home to play, the alarm bells at Chelsea aren't exactly ringing yet but the fact remains that they failed to convert any of the dozens of chances they produced in Istanbul. Few people would have bet that Kazim-Richards would be the only Englishman to score that night.

Deivid's 1st half own-goal secured Chelsea a vital away goal but I doubt that Avram Grant will be too worried about progressing to the semi-final with most of his squad fit. Petr Cech is out for a guaranteed further fortnight (possibly the whole season) after a training-ground injury but Ricardo Carvalho is expected to return to the starting line-up along with key striker Didier Drogba.

The odds also infer that Chelsea will progress to the next round but anyone willing to back a Fenerbahce win at [13] will earn plenty of spare cash if there's an upset. Any draw, at [6], will also send the Turks through to a semi-final clash with Liverpool or Arsenal. It's a slightly more attainable goal for Fenerbahce fans wanting to back their side but it would require a Herculean effort from the visitors. The draw trades at [6.2].

Fenerbahce have only won one game in England to date: a 1-0 group game against Manchester United in 1996 while they've never reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League before this season.

Without the support of 50,000 fervent fans Fenerbahce will expect to spend plenty of time defending on Tuesday night. Zico's team have a reputation for progressive football at home and last week's performance proved they have match winners in their ranks but they failed to secure wins in their last seven away matches in the competition.

More comforting for Chelsea is the fact that Fenerbahce have conceded at least one goal in their last five Champions League away games. Grant's side may not produce the same geometric, fantasy football of their North London neighbours (not that we've seen much of it of late) but they do have plenty of pace, power and the best striker in the world in the shape of Drogba. It should be too much for the Turks to withstand.

I expect Grant to play Drogba as a lone striker with support from Kalou, Cole and the irrepressible Lampard. Anelka is always an attractive option up front but this particular game leaves no room for experimentation so expect to see the 4-5-1 formation that's served them so well over recent years. An early goal for the home side will lift the spirits of their Rolex-waving fans and put huge pressure on the away side. I suspect Fenerbahce will crack sooner rather than later.

You're not going to get a great return backing Chelsea to win at [1.31] so predicting the final score may be more lucrative. You can back a 2-0 home win at [6.6] but I fancy a 3-0 win at [9.6] for Chelsea.

Most view Grant's side to be less enticing than Mourinho's but at the business end of the season Chelsea have all their key players (barring Cech) available and look in good shape to take their Champions League and Premiership title pursuit to the wire.