Tonight at Stamford Bridge, world champions Chelsea host French league title-holders Lille in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16. February has been a hectic, globetrotting month but a rare appearance at Stamford Bridge is the second of four local outings for the Londoners stretching into early March.

While the league title looks a tall order (despite the leaders’ weekend loss), Thomas Tuchel’s men have already won two cups this season and could claim a third in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final. The Blues are on a run of five successive victories in all competitions, and success in the FA Cup campaign and in defence of our European crown remain possibilities.

Lille, also known as LOSC, were winners of Champions League Group G and enjoyed an extra day’s recovery ahead of tonight’s game thanks to their governing body bringing forward the visit of struggling Metz to Friday night. The game ended 0-0 and the French champions now sit 11th. This is their first appearance at this stage for a decade and a half.

Each of the Blues’ three group stage games at the Bridge ended in victory with a clean-sheet and Tuchel would be happy to take a repeat of that into the decisive second leg in three weeks’ time.

The Londoners did win home and away against the same opponents in the 2019/20 group stage but a repeat is only possible if the matches are approached in the correct fashion, and the Bavarian knows LOSC’s qualities from his time as PSG coach, winning three of his five encounters with them.

This is the second time Chelsea have faced Lille as defending champions of a major European trophy, having won the Europa League three years ago and the Champions League last season. The French team are one of 16 against whom we have a 100 per cent record in Europe’s elite competition.

Chelsea team news

The only change to Thomas Tuchel’s Champions League squad for the knockout rounds was the removal of Lewis Baker following his switch to Stoke and the accommodation of potential wing-back Kenedy after his loan spell.

The Bavarian was delighted with the three points at Selhurst Park – our first back-to-back Premier League win since October – if not the scrappy nature of the performance. Tuchel has detected physical and mental fatigue in his squad but this attritional season keeps chucking challenges at them and so far they are finding a way through.

In the enforced absence of Cesar Azpilicueta and Callum Hudson-Odoi, the Blues started with a back four of centre-halves (two at full-back) and lacked fluency and penetration going forward, with centre-forward Romelu Lukaku poorly served in blustery weather.

Even with Sunday’s Carabao Cup final only days away it seems likely that Saturday’s standout performer and match-winner Hakim Ziyech will retain his place against Lille’s defence. Mateo Kovacic’s introduction injected life into the world champions at the weekend and he may start this evening, while Marcos Alonso delivered the cross for the goal, his fourth assist of the season.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek played his first league minutes since mid-December on Saturday, and Azpilicueta returned to training yesterday along with Mason Mount, but Reece James is not ready to be involved. Trevoh Chalobah and Timo Werner will also be staking a claim for playing time with five substitutes allowed.

The Blues have only lost one of our past 10 home matches against French teams (winning six) and only three coaches have a higher success rate in Champions League knockout ties than Tuchel’s eight wins from 11: Vicente del Bosque (8/10), Josef Heynckes (12/14) and Zinedine Zidane (14/16).

Paradise LOSC

Lille Olympique claimed the 2020/21 Ligue 1 title from PSG by a single point. That outcome looked unlikely until a tactical shift by Christophe Galtier (now at third-placed Nice) to a defensive 4-4-2 prompted outstanding individual performances from players such as Jonathan Ikone and Boubakary Soumare, who have since moved on.

Les Dogues have largely retained the same formation under ex-Bordeaux boss Jocelyn Gourvennec and they topped a Champions League group featuring the champions of Austria, Red Bull Salzburg, Sevilla and Wolfsburg from the Bundesliga.

Mid-table domestic form in defence of their title has been the issue, though, and year-on-year they have slipped dramatically in terms of wins (-7), losses (+5), goals for (-10), goals conceded (+20) as well as points (-19). The past few weeks brought successive league defeats including a 5-1 at home to PSG – their worst drubbing in any competition at Stade Pierre Mauroy for a decade.

Gourvennec lost faith in goalie Ivo Grbic’s shaky handling in that fixture and Leo Jardim returned for his first league appearances since August. Lille had conceded at least once in their previous 13 away league games, but have registered successive clean sheets with the Brazilian donning the gloves.

Dashing winger Jonathan Ikone’s January move to Fiorentina was a huge loss to Les Dogues but offered a new lease of life to incoming Hatem Ben Arfa, once Newcastle’s fitful magician. Timothy Weah, 21, son of our FA Cup-winning striker George, is likely to start as a wide forward as England Under-21 Angel Gomes was injured in Friday’s disappointing 0-0 at home to relegation-haunted Metz.

Other familiar figures include the Benzema-esque veteran Turkey striker Burak Yilmaz and dribbling playmaker Renato Sanches, who had a spell at Swansea (losing 1-0 at the Bridge). Former Premier League mainstay Jose Fonte is now 38 but has not missed a minute, while fellow centre-back Sven Botman, 22, was not tempted away by any January offer and is a threat at set-plays. Lively Canada centre-forward Jonathan David, their leading scorer with 12, is without a goal in six club outings.

Lille’s wide defenders have struggled in recent games, and not just against the likes of Di Maria and Mbappe. First choice left-back Reinildo Mandava was sold in January so Swedish youngster Gabriel Gudmundsson has stepped in, while Zeki Celik has been preferred at right-back to Tiago Djalo (who played on Friday when Celik was suspended).

How to watch Chelsea-Lille

This match will be covered live by BT Sport in the UK. To find the relevant broadcaster where you are, see UEFA’s TV guide

Chelsea TV’s worldwide Matchday Live show features our former France international Frank Leboeuf. It is on this website and the 5th Stand app.

Group stage recap

Lille won Group G with a points total of 11, one more than runners-up Salzburg, but two lower than Chelsea, who finished second to Juventus in Group H. Les Dogues were winless after matchday three but turned things round in the second half with three straight wins including Sevilla and Wolfsburg away.

The Blues notched almost twice as many group goals as LOSC (13/7) and created 18 goal attempts from set-plays compared to the visitors’ eight, while both conceded four times.

Champions League regulations

From this season the longstanding rule that favoured the team scoring the greater number of away goals in the event of a tie after 180 minutes has been abolished.

If aggregate scores are level after normal time in the second leg, the match will now enter 30 minutes of extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner.

Five substitutes from a bench of 12 players can be used in this competition, rising to six in extra time.

Accumulating three cautions will result in a suspension, but all yellow cards not leading to a ban expire after the quarter-finals. LOSC had the second highest cautions record of the group stage and Jose Fonte and Burak Yilmaz will miss the second leg if booked tonight.

French lessons

This is Chelsea’s fifth meeting with the reigning champions of France at Europe’s top table, the other clubs being Marseille (1999/00) and PSG (2013/14, 2014/15, and 2015/16). The Blues won one and lost three of our four previous knockout ties against clubs from across the Channel (PSG and Monaco).

Blues’ record safe for another season

Tottenham’s three goals at the Etihad meant Manchester City have conceded 17 goals this season, preserving Chelsea’s Premier League record fewest, 15, set by Jose Mourinho’s title-winners in 2004/05.

Saturday’s second successive top-flight clean sheet leaves the Blues with the third best defensive record this campaign with 18 goals against, one behind City and Wolves (17). The Londoners’ goal difference of 31 is also third highest behind the Citizens (46) and Liverpool (44) and a remarkable 20 better than the next best, West Ham (11).

In the weekend Spurs game, Harry Kane and Heung-min Son equalled Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard’s historic goals combination in the Premier League of 36. However, the Chelsea pair’s double act helped win three league titles whereas the Tottenham pair’s best finish is as runners-up to the west Londoners in 2016/17.

World trophy on show

The last piece in the Chelsea silverware puzzle, the elegant FIFA Club World Cup trophy, is already installed in Stamford Bridge museum’s trophy display cabinet. It sits alongside our other recently acquired treasures, the Super Cup and Champions League, and can be viewed up close and personal on stadium tours

The team wore the gold badge of world champions on their shirts for the first time in the victory at Crystal Palace.

Champions League round of 16 first leg fixtures (all BT Sport)

TuesdayChelsea v Lille 8pmVillarreal v Juventus 8pm

WednesdayAtletico Madrid v Man Utd 8pmBenfica v Ajax 8pm

Premier League fixtures

WednesdayBurnley v Tottenham 7.30pmWatford v Crystal Palace 7.30pmLiverpool v Leeds 7.45pm

ThursdayArsenal v Wolves 7.45pm (Amazon Prime)