Juventus' loss propels Roberto Di Matteo's sack

Roman Abramovic has fired Roberto Di Matteo as Chelsea's boss. The Italian manager was sacked on Wednesday morning after his team's 3-0 loss to Juventus on Tuesday night.

Chelsea have only won two of their last eight matches, but yesterday's defeat in Turin was too much for the Russian owner to bear.

Roberto Di Matteo's successor is expected to be named very soon. Rafael Benitez is the favourite choice to fill in the gap left by the Italian.

A group of Chelsea supporters have already rejected the link between Benitez and their club.

Chelsea will become the first defending champions of the UEFA Champions League that will fail to go beyond the group phase of the competition if Juventus doesn't lose their last group match.

Preview: Chelsea vs Napoli

Roberto Di Matteo will lead the Blues against red-hot SSC Napoli in tonight's explosive Champions League match. The Italian was named as the caretaker manager after the sack of Andre Villas Boas earlier this month. Napoli defeated Chelsea by three goals to one at the San Paolo stadium in Naples in the first leg of this round of 16 tie. Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi have warmed up for this match with an emphatic 6-3 win over Cagliari last Friday. Naploi are now fourth in the Italian Serie A, while Chelsea are still trailing fourth placed Arsenal in the EPL by three points. Chelsea have scored just three goals in their last two games against Birmingham City(FA Cup tie) and Stoke City. Didier Drogba and Juan Mata are expected to be on the starting line up at the Stamford Bridge later this evening. Chelsea need a 2-0 win to progress, while their Italian visitors will go through on away goals rule if they don't lose by more than two goals margin after scoring at least two goals. This scenario means that even a 4-2 win for Chelsea will be good enough for Napoli to move on, but a 3-1win for Chelsea will extend the game into 30 minutes of extra time.

Lavezzi

Considering the goal scoring prowess of Napoli, it will be difficult for Chelsea to progress beyond the round of 16.

Chat Soccer's prediction: Chelsea 2-2 Napoli