Chelsea can cope without captain John Terry, says Gary Cahill

Chelsea recovered well from falling behind to a deflected Zlatan Ibrahimovic free kick to score a crucial away goal through John Obi Mikel in first half injury time. Incredibly, the Dutchman also only lost once in his first spell with the club in 2009, when he was given the job after the dismissal of Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Europe’s best teams are preparing for the start of the Champions League knockout rounds this week, with Chelsea to take on French champions-elect PSG, Zenit to travel to Portugal to play Benfica, and Spanish giants Real Madrid to host Serie A side Roma.

Their only defeat came in the league, with Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham beating them by one Luca Modric goal. “But I’ve played with Iva in big games before, so I don’t see it being a problem”. They have not played a competitive game for over two months due to Russia’s mid-season break, and that makes me wary of backing a side that is likely to be a little rusty despite some recent friendly outings.

Chelsea have given themselves a great opportunity to reach the Quarter Finals of the Champions League after a narrow 2-1 defeat in the first leg at the Parc des Princes. “Hopefully the goal that puts us through in the tie”. I expect them to get back to winning ways on Tuesday night and deliver a winning bet.

‘I think we deserved more, we deserved to get a draw or win the game, ‘ Mikel added.

“We defended when we had to and played when we had to”.

“Defensively I thought we were really strong”, he said.

The veteran centre back has already confirmed he intends to continue his playing career, and now the Brentwood Gazzette says West Ham want him.

“We created a lot of chances ourselves last night and the keeper made an unbelievable save from Diego Costa to prevent us going ahead”.

This is the third time in the last few years the two teams meet in this competition. We know what we have to do now to progress.