Having pipped mighty Juventus to a place in the Champions League knockout stages, Galatasaray will be aiming to claim another major scalp when they host Premier League giants Chelsea.

The Blues arrive in Istanbul in confident mood, but Jose Mourinho is aware his former players Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba can cause his current side all sorts of problems.

Galatasaray have been making giant strides in Europe’s elite competition of late, with Cimbom reaching the quarter-finals last term and giving good account of themselves against Real Madrid.

The Turkish giants kicked off a new campaign with 6-1 home defeat to the same opponents and with Juventus also in their group, they were not given big chances to make it through.

Nevertheless, a somewhat fortunate victory against the Bianconeri in their final group game saw Cimbom qualify for the knockout stages and earn a clash with Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea.

And with the team having also raised their domestic form of late, Galatasaray are priced at 4.33 (10/3) to win the first leg.

The hosts go into this match in high spirits having defeated rivals Besiktas at the weekend, but Roberto Mancini has doubts over the availability of several players.

The likes of Drogba, Sneijder and Yilmaz should all start, but Hamit Altintop, Aurelien Chedjou, Gokhan Zan and Hakan Balta are all injury doubts.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-1-2): Muslera – Sari, Kaya, Balta, Telles – Inan, Gulselam, Melo – Sneijder – Drogba, B. Yilmaz.

Chelsea crashed out of the Champions League in group stage, but that proved to be a blessing in disguise as it allowed the Blues to win the Europa League trophy.

The Stamford Bridge outfit are now back where they belong and are certainly hoping to reach the final stages of the competition.

Following a slip-up at the Hawthorns, the Blues were somewhat fortunate to get their league campaign back on track as they scored with the last kick of the game to defeat Everton at the weekend.

And having now produced three under-par performances in a row, Chelsea will need to show improvement in order to avoid defeat in Istanbul.

The Blues may have been made 2.00 (1/1) favourites to win this tie, but they clearly face a difficult task at Turk Telekom Arena.

Nemanja Matic and Mohamed Salah are cup-tied, whereas David Luis, Oscar and John Obi Mikel should be in contention.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Cech – Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta – Mikel, Luiz – Ramires, Willian, Hazard – Eto’o.