Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Champions League Group E clash between reigning champions Chelsea and Italian champions Juventus.

The last Chelsea player to kick a ball in the Champions League was Didier Drogba, as his penalty at the Allianz Arena ensured Chelsea emerged victorious from the shoot-out in Munich to win the European Cup for the first time. Can they retain the trophy this season? Almost certainly not - history dictates that much. But they certainly have the players to go very far in the competition. With Hazard in tow, they are a better team than last season.

Rather surprisingly, Juventus have lost their past six Champions League games in England, while Chelsea are unbeaten against today's opponents in this competition, winning their last meeting at Stamford Bridge 1-0 in the last 16 in 2008-09.

So, time for a few Opta stats: "This is Chelsea’s 10th consecutive participation in the Champions League. They’ve reached the semi-finals six times and the final twice, winning it for the first time in their history last season. Chelsea have made it out of the group stages every time in each of their 10 previous Champions League participations. Juventus are making their 13th appearance in the Champions League and their first since the 2009/10 season."

No team has successfully defended the Champions League and Roberto Di Matteo said yesterday that Chelsea's task is all but "impossible." In truth they do make rather unlikely European champions - they needed a few slices of luck to see off Barca in the semis and then Bayern in the final, though you couldn't fault them for resolve and determination. It wasn't pretty, but it worked.

Chelsea have had a fine start to the season in the Premier League - winning three of four games to go top of the table - but they had a rather rude awakening in Europe when being hammered 4-1 by Atletico Madrid in the European Super Cup. Chelsea said that was an aberration - a defensive disaster - and they should be much tighter tonight.

A victory over Genoa at the weekend took Juventus' unbeaten run to 42 games in Serie A following their invincible title last season. However, coach Antonio Conte is unable to take charge of the team today as he serves a 10-month ban as a punishment for failing to report match-fixing during his time in charge of Siena. Assistant Massimo Carrera is the man on the touchline tonight.

There are no surprises in the Juventus starting XI. They line up in a 3-5-2 formation with width provided by wing-backs Stephan Lichtsteiner and Kwadwo Asamoah. Sebastian Giovinco plays off lone striker Mirko Vucinic, while Claudio Marchisio and Arturo Vidal will look to provide space to Pirlo to do some damage. The trio of Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli and Leo Bonucci oozes international class.

Chelsea's only change is the introduction of Oscar for Bertrand - a decision that means Juan Mata must make do with a place on the bench. The responsibility for keeping Andrea Pirlo quiet - something England completely failed to do at the Euros - falls to Ramires, who though stationed on the right is likely to tuck in and hassle the Italian deep playmaker.

TEAM NEWS: Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Mikel, Ramires, Oscar, Hazard, Torres. Subs: Turnbull, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Bertrand, Romeu, Mata, Moses.. /// Juventus: Buffon, Chiellini, Barzagli, Bonucci, Lichsteiner, Marchisio, Pirlo, Asamoah, Vidal, Vucinic, Giovinco. Subs: Storari, Lucio, Giaccherini, Isla, Marrone, Quagliarella, Matri.

Early team news filters through as we learn that Oscar makes his first start for the club since his summer move from Internacional. He comes in for Ryan Bertrand in the front three.