Game Preview: Chelsea vs. Basel - UEFA Champions League - Group E - September 18th, 2013

Chelsea FC are hosts to Basel in the first round of games in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) Group E. The match will take place on September 18th, 2013 at Stamford Bridge in London.

Chelsea and Basel met last year in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals where the London side won 5-2 on aggregate. The score in Basel was 1-2 and in London 3-1.

Jose Mourinho's side are the huge favourites to win at home on Wednesday. Let's take a look at the odds:

Chelsea: 3/10
Draw: 19/4
Basel: 11/1

A 100 € bet on Chelsea could return 30 € in profit, while the same bet on Basel could return 1,100 € in profit.

Samuel Eto'o is the favourite to score for Chelsea at 4/5 (bet 100 € for a chance to win 80 €) and Marco Streller is the favourite to score for Basel at 10/3 (bet 100 € for a chance to win 333 €).

Chelsea started the season strong with victories over Hull (2-0) and Aston Villa (2-1). On their visit to Old Trafford. to play Manchester United, the score was 0-0. Chelsea also drew 2-2, and eventually lost on penalties, vs. Bayern Munich in the UEFA Super Cup on August 30th. Most recently, Chelsea lost to Everton with the score of 1-0.

FC Basel have 3 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss so far in the Swiss Super League. Most recently they defeated Young Boys 2-1 at home. During the qualifications for the UEFA Champions League group stage, Basel eliminated Maccabi Tel-Aviv 4-3 on aggregate, and then in the play-off, Ludogorets Razgrad 6-2 on aggregate.

Let's see how things play out at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. Will Samuel Eto'o and Chelsea crush Basel or are we in for a Swiss surprise?

UCL Group E also features FC Schalke 04 and Steaua Bucuresti.

Enjoy the match!