Chelsea vs Rubin Kazan' Preview

Topics: Chelsea, Rubin Kazan, Europa League

Following their heroic triumph over Manchester United in the FA Cup, The Blues will be looking to get past Rubin Kazan in the Europa League.

Chelsea will be hoping to fire on all cylinders when they entertain Rubin Kazan of Russia in the opening leg of the quarter-finals of the Europa League tie at Stamford Bridge on Thursday.

The Blues head into the contest high on morale, following their impressive 1-0 victory over fierce rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup on Monday.

Chelsea, who eliminated United thanks to a superb second-half goal from Demba Ba, continue to compete on three fronts with only a few weeks remaining in the season, and will be desperate to claim a convincing victory over Rubin Kazan in order to head into the return leg in confident mood.

Rafael Benitez, the coach of Chelsea, is expected to recall John Terry and Frank Lampard into his starting eleven, while Spanish international Fernando Torres will lead the attack in the absence of Monday's heroe Demba Ba, who is cup-tied.

The Premier League outfit are unbeaten at Stamford Bridge in their last 11 European matches, and will rate their chances of overcoming the rock-solid Russians on home territory.

Having cruised into the quarter-finals at the expense of Steaua Bucharest, Chelsea are more than aware of the fact that they are the odds-on favourites to reach the last four of the Europa League, however, they would be naive to underestimate their opponents.

Rubin Kazan have been in equally fine form, and have not lost when playing away from home in the competition so far. They will be hoping to pull off a major upset in London, but wouldn't be at all disappointed with an away draw.

Rubin, who are coached by Turkmenistani tactician Kurban Berdyev, are expected to adopt a defensive-minded approach to confront the game, and will be looking to hit the hosts on the counter-attack.

Berdyev will likely include defensive midfielder Bibras Natkho from the kickoff, after the Israeli put on strong performances for his national team against Portugal and Northern Ireland last week.