Barcelona out to check Chelsea

After their narrow defeat at Stamford Bridge, FC Barcelona will be seeking to edge ahead again in their mini-series with Chelsea FC. More importantly they know anything less than victory could leave them vulnerable especially as Werder Bremen are level on four points with the defending champions. In contrast, a fourth win in Group A will put Chelsea into the knockout stages. In the section's other game, Bremen visit PFC Levski Sofia.

Last time out
• Barcelona can cut Chelsea's lead to just two points with victory. To do that they will have to keep a closer eye on Didier Drogba as his sensational strike in London divided the teams and, back on home soil where they launched their trophy defence with a 5-0 defeat of Levski, they will hope to make more of an impression.

• That defeat was their first in the UEFA Champions League since March 2005 – which also came at Stamford Bridge. At home they are on a run of eight wins and three draws since defeat by Juventus in the 2002/03 quarter-finals.

Barça advantage
• Barça have not been second best to Chelsea on their own ground in three meetings. In each of the previous two seasons the teams have met in the first knockout round. In 2004/05 Barcelona staged the first leg and overcame Juliano Belletti's own goal to win 2-1 with goals from Maxi López and Samuel Eto'o. They lost the return 4-2.

• Twelve months later Chelsea were at home first and went down 2-1 to Eto'o's late header. The game in Spain ended 1-1 with Ronaldinho putting the hosts in front before Frank Lampard's late penalty evened matters on the night but could not prevent Barça from making progress on their way to their Paris triumph against another English side, Arsenal FC. Eidur Gudjohnsen, who welcomes the club he served for six seasons before his summer switch to Camp Nou, featured in all four games for Chelsea in the previous two campaigns.

• The sides also met in the 1999/00 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, with Barcelona coming out on top with a 6-4 aggregate win thanks to a 5-1 home victory with extra-time goals from Rivaldo and Patrick Kluivert. That helped establish a formidable record against English visitors. In 21 matches they have only once conceded ground, in the 1975/76 UEFA Cup semi-final when Liverpool FC won 1-0.

Chelsea confidence
• Chelsea - who will be assured of first place in the section with two games to spare should they win and Bremen fail to beat Levski - will take confidence from their victory two weeks ago which left the teams with two wins apiece in the five games played over the last 20 months with the other drawn.

• In Drogba they have the competition's leading scorer with four goals and he was responsible for all three as Chelsea won 3-1 in Sofia in their only other away game in the campaign so far. That result improved their away record in the competition which until then showed just one win in eight, five of which ended in defeat.

• Their statistics in Spain are not convincing either - last season's Camp Nou contest was only the second time they had avoided defeat in seven visits. They have just a single victory – against Real Betis Balompié in the quarter-finals of the 1997/98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, when they recorded a 2-1 victory.