Valencia v Chelsea: Champions League – live! | Football

28 min: Gabriel returns, with a tight-fitting cap covering the bandages.

27 min: Gabriel will be OK to continue as well … but only after a bandage is wrapped many times around his bleeding head. He’ll be back on in a minute. Meanwhile Zouma has already won his first defensive header since coming back on, and looks fine.

25 min: A corner for Chelsea out on the right. It leads to nothing … but Gabriel and Zouma suffer a sickening clash of heads as they compete for a high ball. Zouma took a proper whack in the face there. But after a quick check, and a splash of water, he’s deemed good to continue. That looked like a sore one on the nose.

23 min: Parejo floats a ball down the inside-left channel. Soler guides a header towards the top left. Kepa catches without fuss. In the centre, Gomez is going nuts; he wanted Soler to set him up for a tap-in with a square ball. Full marks for brazen nerve, given the chance he missed less than five minutes ago.

21 min: Parejo is down, complaining that he’s copped one in the mush from Kovacic. Valencia surround the ref. There was a bit of contact, but it looked accidental enough. The referee isn’t interested.

19 min: Chelsea have been by far the better side. But they should be behind. Rodrigo is sent scampering into acres of space down the inside-right channel, the beneficiary of another exquisite Parejo pass. Chelsea’s defence are caught napping; they’re nowhere. Rodrigo rolls the ball across the face of goal towards Gomez, at the far post, six yards out. Gomes simply has to tap it in … Kepa’s been drawn out of position … but he takes a complete fresh-air swipe! That is absurd. Chelsea breathe again.

17 min: James again on the right. This time a low cross causes some slapstick nonsense in the area. A scrappy passage of play set to Symphony for Slide Whistle and Trombone. Eventually Azpilicueta kicks Juame Costa into the air, and a free kick brings an end to the nonsense.

16 min: Valencia are struggling to put anything together going forward. Parejo sprays a gorgeous diagonal pass towards Gaya on the left, and for a minute it looks as though he’ll be racing towards the box. But James is quickly on the scene to shut him down.

14 min: James is causing all manner of problems for Valencia down the right wing. If he’s not threatening to tear clear with his pace, he’s putting the fear of God into them by whip-cracking in some dangerous crosses. This time it’s his crossing that’s the danger; he finds Abraham at the near post. Abraham can’t quite wrap his foot around the ball to get a first-time shot on target; it’s wide right. This is a very impressive start by Chelsea.

13 min: A free kick for Chelsea out on the left, and a chance to load the box and put more pressure on agitated Valencia. Willian operates the release valve, floating in some easy pickings for Cillessen.

11 min: Jorginho nearly releases Pulisic down the middle with a lovely floated pass that wasn’t a million miles away from his assist for Abraham against Watford. Gabriel blooters clear in a blind panic, and nearly releases Gomez up the other end! But Christensen is alert to the danger and shepherds the striker away from danger, eventually drawing a foul.

9 min: Chelsea look dangerous every time they go forward. Azpilicueta whips a low ball through the Valencia box from the left. James meets it on the right … and whips it back through the box and out past Azpilicueta for a throw to the hosts. Willian and Abraham were unable to get close to either cross. Those fierce deliveries wouldn’t have taken much turning in.

8 min: The corner’s rolled back down the left flank to Gaya, who hooks in a high one. Kepa plucks that out of the sky with great ease.

7 min: But the volume goes up again quicksmart, as Torres breaks down the right and is bundled over clumsily by Jorginho. The free kick’s swung into the mixer and headed behind his own goal by Zouma. Time for Valencia’s first corner of the night.

5 min: Valencia look nervous to a man. Cillessen betrays their collective state of mind by shanking a goal kick straight out of play, under no pressure whatsoever. Chelsea have already done a pretty good job of turning the volume down in the Mestalla … if not quite silencing it yet.

4 min: Chelsea are really up for this. Pulisic drives at them with extreme prejudice, then feeds Willian who drives with equal passion towards the Valencia box. Just as he starts to think about shooting, he loses a little control and ends up clanking a white shirt to the ground. Foul, and a rare chance for Valencia to get a feel of the ball. They’ve hardly touched the thing so far.

2 min: … nothing occurs. Willian’s delivery is dismal, failing to beat the man on the near post. But Chelsea are soon coming straight back at Valencia, James whipping in a cross from deep on the right. Willian is free at the far post! But he sends his header high and wide from ten yards or so. He probably should have scored; he certainly should have got his header on target. What a chance!

33 seconds: Chelsea are immediately on the front foot, Pulisic and Kovacic taking turns to run at the hosts down the left wing. They win a corner. From which …

And we’re off! Frank’s Freewheelers get the party started. Another evening of wild and reckless abandon? Yes please! In the meantime, here’s Peter Oh: “A blood-orange sky, a club known for wearing orange, and an Oranje international in the home goal. Talk about chromatic determinism.”

The teams are out! It’s a cloudy evening in Valencia, though still a comparatively balmy 18 degrees. The atmosphere in the Mestalla is, however, red hot, much as you’d expect. Uefa’s official mangling of Zadok the Priest blasts out of the PA. Cesar Azpilicueta will swap that pennant in a minute. And then we’ll be off before you know it!

A pre-match word with Frank Lampard. “It’s much more of a must-not-lose than a must-win,” he tells BT Sport. “There’s a lot on it, but that’s football. We’ve pulled a lot of ground back since the first game against Valencia, and it’s very important we finish off the job. We’ve got two games to do it, but particularly tonight. I’ve got a competitive squad, with plenty of players knocking on the door. It’s no slight on the players who have come out, and I trust the players who are coming in. The strength of Manchester City and Liverpool has been their relentless nature, coming back from any little knock-back. So we need to try to close that gap, and it starts with consistency and reactions. And it’s a great chance for us to show that tonight.” Lampard talks really well, you know. He exudes a calm, cool authority, and doesn’t put too much pressure on his players. A class act. I fully appreciate some supporters of Leeds United may have a drastically different viewpoint regarding this matter.

On the subject of blood orange … oh my, what a sunset.

Here’s the pennant Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta will present to his opposite number Daniel Parejo before kick-off. A classy bit of merch. From this photo, we can also confirm that the Blues will be playing in, er, first choice blue. The hosts will be wearing their famous white shirts and black shorts, with a lovely dash of blood orange on the piping.

There are four changes to the Valencia team sent out at Stamford Bridge on matchday one. Jaume Costa, Carlos Soler, Ferran Torres and Maxi Gomez replace Francis Coquelin, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Denis Cheryshev and Kevin Gameiro.

Chelsea make two changes to the side that gave it a good go at Manchester City last weekend. And they’re both at the back. Reece James comes in for Emerson, while Andreas Christensen replaces Fikayo Tomori.

Valencia: Cillessen, Costa Jaume, Garay, Gabriel, Gaya, Torres, Parejo, Wass, Carlos Soler, Rodrigo, Gomez.
Subs: Domenech Jaume, Correia, Mangala, Gameiro, Vallejo, Lee, Coquelin.

Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, James, Christensen, Zouma, Azpilicueta, Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic, Willian, Abraham, Pulisic.
Subs: Pedro, Caballero, Giroud, Mount, Batshuayi, Tomori, Emerson Palmieri.

Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany).

It’s tight in Group H, where Ajax, Chelsea and Valencia are all on seven points after four matches. Three famous European giants are pirouetting on the proverbial knife-edge. Should either Chelsea or Valencia win in the Mestalla this evening, they’ll be through to the knockouts, due to a favourable head-to-head record in a potential three-way tie. So close! It’s there for the taking!

There’s only one problem for Frank’s Freewheelers: Valencia did a number on them in matchday one at Stamford Bridge. So should Los Ches beat them tonight, and assuming Ajax see off Lille, they’ll need Valencia to win in Amsterdam on matchday six to give them a chance of qualifying in place of the Dutch. This scenario doesn’t sound quite so promising.

But let’s not tie ourselves up in too many knots. Chelsea didn’t play particularly well when Valencia visited them on the opening day, but still would have snatched a draw had Ross Barkley slotted a late penalty. They’ve since embarked on a run of nine wins in their last 13 games, and won’t be too disheartened after that spirited defeat at Manchester City last weekend. Valencia by comparison have won just five of their last 13 … and their win at the Bridge was their only historical success against the Blues in seven attempts.

Given the fixture list, which sends Valencia to Ajax and Lille to London on matchday six, a draw would be a decent enough result for Chelsea too. Another 4-4, then, anyone? Eh, why not. It’s on!

Kick off: 5.55pm GMT (6.55pm local in Valencia).