Chelsea vs Pafos: Starting XIs, confirmed team news for Champions League clash

The team news is in from Stamford Bridge.
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Liam Rosenior has named his Chelsea side to face Pafos in the Champions League.

Chelsea host the Cypriot side looking to strengthen their bid to finish in the top-eight to automatically qualify for the last-16.

Rosenior will take charge of his first Champions League game as head coach and will be keen to get Chelsea back to winning ways after a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Atalanta back in December

The new Chelsea head coach is only focused on getting the Blues qualified and conceded it would be ideal if they can avoid the play-off stages, which they are currently set to play as it stands.

"It would be great," Rosenior admitted on Chelsea finishing in the top-eight. "Especially when you're a new manager coming in, you want those training days so you can imprint a little bit more. But the most important thing is getting through. That's what's important.

Liam Rosenior, Chelsea
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He added: "We focus on the game. Pafos is not an easy game. They're still in a position where they can qualify. Analysing them, they have strengths in terms of the way Albert has put the team together that we have to be aware of.

"But we need to go out and perform really, really well and not think too much about how important it is to miss out games. The most important thing is qualifying."

Here are the confirmed teams from Stamford Bridge for the Champions League clash between Chelsea and Pafos.


Chelsea

Starting XI: Jorgensen; Gusto, Fofana, Badiashile, Hato, James (c), Caicedo, Neto, Fernandez, Garnacho, Delap

Bench: Sanchez, Acheampong, Cucurella, Chalobah, Emenalo, Andrey Santos, Walsh, Estevao Willian, George, Gittens, Guiu, Joao Pedro

Pafos

Starting XI: Gorter, Pileas, Luckassen, Sema, Jaja, Sunjic, Pepe, Bruno, Dragomir, Orsic, Anderson

Bench: Petrou, Michael, David Luiz, Goldar, Quina, Bassouamina, Dimata, Langa, Michael, Fontoura Caldierado


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Matt Debono
MATT DEBONO

Matt Debono leads the editorial team which covers Chelsea On SI. He has witnessed Chelsea win it all, whilst also featuring on ITV News, SPORTbible and various other publications.