Chelsea come into Saturday’s game against Stoke City at Stamford Bridge with one eye on the big midweek Champions League tie against PSG next Wednesday.

Guus Hiddink’s men have been in superb form of late with 19 points in this calendar year, more than any other Premier league side bar Tottenham.

The Blues will want to build on their recent successes with a win against Stoke which would be the ideal preparation for PSG on Wednesday.

Mark Hughes’ men have already beaten Chelsea twice this season in the Capital One Cup and in the first league meeting at the Britannia.

The Potters are also in good form coming into this game after three league wins in a row which sees them in seventh place, three points ahead of their opponents who are 10th.

Team news

John Terry is ruled out of this match so Branislav Ivanovic will partner Gary Cahill at center-back.

John Obi Mikel is expected back in the starting XI after starting from the bench against Norwich while Kenedy may keep his place at left-back ahead of Baba Rahman.

As for the visitors, Ryan Shawcross (back), Phil Bardsley (calf), Glen Johnson (knee) and Charlie Adam (calf) are all ruled out of this match but Bojan Kirkic and Xherdan Shaqiri should be in the starting lineup come kickoff time at the Bridge.

Predicted lineups