Juventus will entertain Chelsea at the Stadio Olimpico di Torino in an attempt to neutralise the 1-0 lead that the Londoners have over them from a fortnight ago at Stamford Bridge, while keeping a clean sheet themselves, as a stray away goal scored by Chelsea would make their task difficult to attain in the best possible scenario.

Banking on the statistics alone, Juventus are facing an insurmountable task ahead of them on Tuesday night. The Italian side has not recorded a victory in eight European matches against English clubs.

To exacerbate matters even further, Juventus have failed to even score a goal in their past three Champions League home matches against English clubs. The last time The Old Lady scored a goal at home against an English team was in October 1 2002 against Newcastle, when Alessandro Del Piero scored a brace, earning Juve a 2-0 victory over the Toon.

The Londoners will go into the game with a considerably superior statistic behind their backs, as the Blues have won one and drawn four of their eight away matches against Italian clubs in Europe.

Chelsea's most prolific scorer, Nicolas Anelka, and influential midfielder Deco are not yet certain to participate in the match on Tuesday. According to the club's website, late fitness tests will determine whether they will feature in the starting 11. Anelka is nursing a minor foot injury, while Deco is struggling with an injury substantially more austere – a hamstring tear.

The Dutch boss will have to formulate his plans without the services of defender Ricardo Carvalho, also with a hamstring injury, who will not play, but the good news is that Michael Essien may start in Italy, after he already made an appearance in England for the FA Cup win at Coventry, which was his first appearance for the Londoners in more than six months.

Regarding the game tonight, Guus Hiddink said, as qupted by the Chelsea official website: "Will Anelka be fit? I doubt it. He is working but has been out now for many days. We'll see what his reaction is to some treatment plus training.

"Essien has played and trained with the second team. Now he is fit, but it is different to be game fit if you are playing very tough games."