Chelsea vs Juventus preview: Outside chance for Lukaku

Team news and stats ahead of Chelsea vs Juventus in the Champions League group stage on Tuesday; kick-off 8pm.

Team news

Romelu Lukaku has an outside chance of taking a seat on the Chelsea bench for the Juventus clash, having returned to team training on Monday. The striker has been missing with an ankle problem and must prove his fitness after checks with the Chelsea medical team.

Kai Havertz is a doubt due to tight hamstrings, but Jorginho is fit and available.

Asked if Lukaku could be ready to take on Juventus, Tuchel replied: “We’re not sure yet, we have one more training. Yesterday he was in team training and seemed okay. Let’s see about the reaction.

“He has right now, in the next minutes, an appointment with doctors and physios to see about the reaction and see about the next training.

“Maybe we have the chance to bring back players to the squad, so maybe he has the chance to be in the squad for the last minutes, but that will be the absolute maximum we can get out of the situation right now.

“Jorginho is absolutely okay, we had to take Kai off at Leicester because of hamstring problems – he felt a bit of tension in the hamstrings. So we took him off and we have some doubts with him, we need to check to see if he can train without any problems. This is more or less the question mark.

“Timo Werner feels good, he was in training yesterday, he’s back in the squad again.”

How to follow

Follow live updates on SkySports.com and the Sky Sports app from 6.30pm on Wednesday; kick-off is at 8pm. Also follow on Gillette Soccer Special live on Sky Sports News and Sky Sports Premier League from 7pm.

Group H – Chelsea through if they avoid defeat

Champions League holders Chelsea, who were beaten in the reverse fixture in September, trail leaders Juventus by three points after four games in Group H. They need to avoid defeat at Stamford Bridge to confirm their place in the round of 16.

Zenit St Petersburg can still mathematically reach the knockout rounds, but their Champions League campaign will be ended if Chelsea gain a point against Juventus. Malmo are bottom of Group H and cannot qualify.

Opta stats

Since beating Juventus in the first ever meeting between the two clubs (1-0 in the UEFA Champions League in February 2009), Chelsea are winless in their last four games against the Italian side in European competition (D2 L2).Juventus have won their last two games against Chelsea in European competition (3-0 in 2012 and 1-0 earlier this season), and they could become the first team to record three consecutive victories against Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League.Chelsea’s last 10 games against Italian opponents in the UEFA Champions League have seen the Blues record only one victory (D3 L6), beating Napoli 4-1 in March 2012. They’ve failed to keep a clean sheet in all 10 games in this run, conceding 21 goals in total.Juventus have won each of their last three away games against English opponents in the UEFA Champions League, beating Manchester City in 2015 and Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United in 2018. If they win this game, they will become the first team to win four consecutive away games against English opponents in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League.Juventus have won each of their last five games in the UEFA Champions League; the longest current run in the competition, along with Bayern Munich. A victory in this game would see the Old Lady establish a new club-record for consecutive wins (6) in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League.In the opening four matchdays of this season’s UEFA Champions League, Chelsea have conceded the fewest goals (1), shots (18) and shots on target (3) of any team. They also have the lowest expected goals against total (2.1) in the competition this term.